


They're A Little Theatrical

by orphan_account



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Anal Sex, Body Worship, Foreplay, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nipple Play, Porn With Plot, Slow Burn, Swearing, Theatre, this fic mainly features Kuroo and Tsukki, this story is going to involve a lot of gayness and glitter, updates weekly, with minor interactions with the other characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-10-28 09:36:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 67,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10828596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Tsukishima Kei is the epitome of the perfect college kid, he's smart, attractive, but has one problem; he's bored with his life. He's tired of living the way he is, and can't shake the void that is filling within him. One day, determined to fix this boredom, he makes the rash choice to study abroad in America. With only focusing on his studies and trying to find a student job, he takes a job working for a local theatre company helping them with hair and makeup. There he meets Kuroo Tetsurou, an actor with a unique personality, and before he knows it, Tsukishima is already falling for him.





	1. A New Job

**Author's Note:**

> So I was watching videos of the Haikyuu stage play and this idea just sort of came into my head, haha. And so here's the Haikyuu theatre AU that no one asked for. Haha.
> 
>  
> 
> [My Tumblr](http://www.tettsuroo.tumblr.com/)

Tsukishima Kei was the epitome of perfect, or so he considered himself to be, anyways. Ever since he was born, he had his family and everyone around him constantly tell him how great he is. From his height, to his moderately attractive good looks, his blonde hair, and his glasses, even to how well he was at sports, he had it all, and that was especially true for his intelligence.

Tsukishima was always used to being in the top of his class, ever since he got to that age when your grades started to matter in school, he didn’t even have to try, it was like his brain was just a perfect dictionary and could remember everything, it was just like he knew all the answers. It even astounded his teachers from how well he did from time to time. Some could say it was a gift, really. So much so that by the time he was in his second year of high school he already had a handful of colleges making him offers. He really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, but when every college in the immediate area is asking you to attend, you’ll figure something out, or at least, that’s what Tsukishima told himself at the time.

Two years after starting college he still thought that; going back and forth between majoring in history and biology seemed to get him nowhere, his grades were good, better than good, but that wasn’t enough for him. Sure, next year on graduation day he would probably have a pretty good chance at being valedictorian, but he just wasn’t happy. Maybe it was all of the stress he put on himself to maintain his perfect grades, or the pressure of not knowing what he wants to do with his life and feeling like he needed to make a decision, but he felt like he was missing something, so much so that he even brought it up to a university counselor more than once. 

When he mentioned it to them, they offered a simple solution, studying abroad, saying that maybe a change of scenery could fill the void that Tsukishima was feeling right now. He didn’t have any reason to decline, so he said yes. His family wasn’t exactly thrilled with the decision, expect for his older brother who just wanted him to be happy, and he knew he would miss his handful of friends back in Japan like crazy, but he already made up his mind. He had never travelled internationally before, and would give anything for a nice change of pace.

Originally this was something that never even crossed his mind, though it was quite popular now a days. He would see signs and banners all over his university advertising studying abroad and other various things, but the thought never seemed like something he would even think of humoring. That is until last week, of course. The end of the semester was fast approaching, so now seemed like the perfect opportunity.

And that was the small series of events that brought a perfect student like Tsukishima Kei to the middle of New York, a city that probably isn’t that dissimilar to Tokyo, but different enough where he could get whatever new experience he wanted, and still feel at home not even after being here for ten seconds.

He didn’t have anything else to go on other than the student dorms as he made his way to the address written on the paper in hand. Tsukishima thought that was pretty vague, but it wasn’t like he was expecting a welcome party showing him where to go and what to do. He already installed a Nav app specifically for this on his phone, so it wasn’t like he was concerned about getting lost.

It had felt sort of informal when he talked to the guy on the phone before arriving here, someone that said they were a resident assistant for all the students studying abroad. Fortunately, Tsukishima’s English was above par compared to everyone else that he knew, making it easy to communicate with people, he started learning it when he was a little kid just to pass the time, and well, it turns out knowing something like that actually paid off in the long run. 

For the life of him he couldn’t remember the guy’s name as he walked past a bunch of faceless apartment buildings. It started with an Y, he remembered that much. Which was pretty uncommon, and he was also pretty sure it was Ya-something or other. Truth be told, Tsukishima wasn’t paying that much attention when they spoke on the phone, he always had a terrible habit of tuning out people when they were telling him things that he didn’t need to know. He wasn’t really one for small talk. Honestly, if the guy could have just told him the address of the building and his name, it would have been all the better. All he really needed to know were just a handful of things, where the university was, what his schedule is, where the best places to eat were, if they had any student jobs, and just the usual tourist talk of what to do, and he would be fine. Though, Tsukishima hardly had plans for leaving his room outside of work and school, so it wasn’t like most of this information would be useful to him as it was. Just about any info you need to know can be found online nowadays anyways, so it wasn’t like he actually needed to pay attention to him.

He could still hear the sounds of his concerned family in his head as he continued to walk down the sidewalk, the feint noises of cars and people passing him, it was different from Tokyo in that aspect, but his family was always concerned for him, he was smart, but when it came to social skills, he lacked them, well, he didn’t so much lack them as he just didn’t want to use them. His whole mentality was that if he wanted or needed to talk to someone, he would. Like his childhood best friend, Yamaguchi, who was sadly not here with him right now, he would approach him and talk to him almost every day, not because he was forced or anything, but because he wanted to. He didn’t show it often, but Yamaguchi was probably one of the few people in the whole world that he felt that way towards. And he didn’t know what kind of people he would be meeting here in New York, but he was certain he wouldn’t be opening up to any of them. He knew he was only going to be here for a year, but even now, Tsukishima found himself not feeling very enthused right now. But then again, maybe that was just the jet lag starting to set in.

It sounded kind of harsh, but Tsukishima was here for studying purposes more than anything else. Most people who study abroad have to have good grades as it is. He thought maybe he could actually get some peace and quiet from all the jet lag he was feeling right about now, as he continued to look at the paper in his hand. He mumbled to himself as he brought his eyes forward to look at the building in front of him, tuning out the noise of the busy street behind him. This must be the place.

It was a bit on the smaller side, though he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, they do say that New York apartments are a bit on the smaller side, even if you are a student. All he was really anticipating his room having was a bed and a closet, but this looked quite spacious compared to that. 

Upon walking in, the doors had a subtle beeping chime to them as they slid open, they were automatic, like the kind you would find at a convenience store or most places these days. It was nothing out of the ordinary as far as he was concerned. If anything, the bright lights were a little blinding as he adjusted the glasses on his face. 

The lobby inside was pretty small, with a front desk greeting you as soon as you walked in, it was white with an off gray trim around it, and a handful of posters littered the walls behind it. Most of them looked like with generic sayings, like the annoying kind you would find in a classroom in high school, and what looked to be like an event schedule on it, most likely for the university. He could feel his eyes adjusting to the new environment, as he struggled to read the first few events on it through his smudged glasses. This was definitely the place.

Over on the right was an empty room with two sets of elevators, and on the left was a small common area, with a few couches, a TV, and a foosball table. The place almost looked more like a hotel than an apartment complex for students, but not that there was that much of a difference between the two. For all he knew, this could have once been a hotel. Though looking around, this place also looked pretty empty, except for one student behind the desk.

“You must be Tsukishima Kei, you’re the last one.” The person, a boy, probably around Tsukishima’s age if he had to guess, walked out from behind the desk, he was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and shorts, with the university logo on them. He had blonde hair and very soft looking facial features. 

He was quite a bit shorter than him, but then again, everyone Tsukishima had ever met was quite a bit shorter than him, even over here he towered over just about everyone he passed in the streets. Somehow making him feel like he stuck out more than he already did. Maybe it was just the traveler, foreigner mentality, but it felt like everyone would glance at him as he passed them. It was always a feeling that Tsukishima hated, the feeling of having attention on him.

“I’m Yaku Morisuke, your resident assistant, we spoke on the phone.” He smiled slightly and Tsukishima made sure to keep eye contact with him when he spoke. He knew that first impressions like this were sadly important.

“Ah, right.” Tsukishima nodded, his introverted side was showing again, the side that really couldn’t make social conversation with just about anyone. Though, he was guessing this guy was used to people like that. If he was only a resident assistant for people studying abroad, he was probably used to most people being jet lagged after arriving here and having little conversation. Right now, all Tsukishima wanted to do was sign whatever paper work he had to and go take a nap. That seemed like the perfect choice for him right now.

He walked back behind the desk briefly, grabbing a set of keys and two clipboards with papers on them. “You’re probably tired from the long trip, so I’ll try to make this quick. Your apartment is apartment 2D, it’s the fourth one on the second floor, you can get to it from the elevator, or if you want to go outside, all of the apartments have a balcony attached to them, you can get to them from the outside stairs. It’s just nice in case you ever don’t want to come inside, it can get kind of stuffy and crowded in here sometimes. If you need anything, just ask. We have another resident assistant, Kenma, who had the day off today, but he can also help you. He’s a shorter boy with dyed blonde hair, you can’t miss him. Other than that, everything you need to know should be on this first paper, it’s just your resident agreement.” He handed Tsukishima the first clipboard and he signed it without a second thought as he listened to the man continue to talk, he didn’t notice it at first, but the pen Yaku handed him also had a cat design on it, and Tsukishima got the feeling that it almost seemed fitting for someone like him. He wasn’t sure how to explain it, but he seemed to give off some kind of cat-like vibe.

“Oh, by the way.” He changed the subject as he began flipping through the other clipboard. “You mentioned on the phone that you wanted to look into one of student jobs, most of the ones we have are just working in the local library or student tutors, but due to budget cuts this year all of these are filled, we only have one left and it’s… well… let me just say it’s last for a reason.”

“What is it?” Tsukishima looked at him curiously, in his mind he instantly ran over the worst possible options, janitor? Or some other trash duty type of job? It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to working hard, hell, he worked pretty hard his whole life, he had to in order to get into a good school and get the grades to study abroad like this, so picking up trash, he could handle. What’s the worst it could be anyways?

“It’s… well… you see…” Yaku sighed, almost like he was reluctantly getting ready to speak, and Tsukishima looked at him more curiously as time went on, what in the world could it be. “There’s a local theatre program ran by some of the alumni and students currently going to the university, and the job is… working as an assistant with them for hair and makeup. I think you can see why it’s the last one left.” Yaku was embarrassed, that was obvious, the way he looked at Tsukishima almost like he was desperate. He had a look on his face that said ‘this is the last job available, but it’s okay if you don’t take it’.

“Doing hair and makeup?” Wasn’t that something more suited for girls, though Tsukishima didn’t even have to ask that, he could see that look still on Yaku’s face. He could definitely see why it was the last one. And something about Tsukishima’s blank expression only seemed to make the situation more awkward.

“Yeah, it would just be helping them with putting on costumes, putting in hairspray, or other things like that. maybe helping them put on a wig. The theatre department there is mostly male, if that helps.” This conversation was turning awkward, and quickly at that. Yaku still had that tone as if he asked Tsukishima to do something that he knew he was going to refuse. He was just waiting for the words of rejection, and in that moment, Tsukishima couldn’t blame him.

Tsukishima didn’t really want to mention it now, but he always had been pretty good with his hands, not in any major way, but he could always hold his hands steady. It started when he was a younger teenager, and he would cut his brothers and his friends hair all the time, it looked just as good as going to a salon and didn’t cost them anything. Would doing this be as easy as doing that? Well, it wasn’t like he had another option. It was this or hope that a local fast food restaurant down the street was hiring, which it probably wasn’t. And even then, a customer service job would have been much worse than this.

“I’ll do it. Where do I go and who do I talk to when I get there?”

“Huh?” Yaku gave him a look that he was expecting, and if it wasn’t for lack of another job, Tsukishima may have turned it down. But it was only hair, makeup, and costumes, right? Sure, Tsukishima wasn’t the biggest fan of people, but a lot of times people will do crazy things for money, and he really didn’t have the time to be picky right now. And if the theatre department was mostly guys anyway there wouldn’t be much of a problem. It wasn’t like this was any kind of sketchy business or shady website.

“Well it’s not like there’s any other options, right?” Tsukishima did always consider himself to be a logical person, and this was no exception. And how bad could it be? Sure, New York did have a reputation for being rude, but if most of the people there were going to be students anyway, it probably wouldn’t be so bad, right? And if he didn’t like it, he could always quit.

“Uh…” Yaku still remained shocked, taking a second to compose himself and gather his thoughts before speaking again. When Tsukishima looked at him it was like he could feel Yaku’s brain moving, like the metaphorical ears in his head turning, as that shocked expression in his eyes slowly turned back to normal. 

“If you keep walking up the street after you leave this building, it’s no more than five blocks away. It’s a bright blue building with a star logo on it, you can’t miss it. Once there… ask for a ‘Suga’ he’s the one in charge of it all, or you can ask for ‘Akaashi’, since he is the one in charge of all the backstage stuff. Listen, are you sure you want to do this?”

His voice almost sounded cautious as Tsukishima played their names over again in his head, Suga and Akaashi, it was easy enough, and it shouldn’t be too hard to find. But more than the name and location, Tsukishima wasn’t uncertain about this at all, there was no reason for him to be uncertain, it was just a job, and one that he felt like he could sort of do. And a lot like how he made up his mind that he wanted to study abroad, he now made up his mind that he wanted to do this job too. And he wasn’t one for being wishy-washy. If anything, he wanted to challenge himself now to not quit.

“Yeah, it’s fine. I used to cut hair back home anyway, so I don’t think I should have a problem with it.” And just like that Tsukishima gave out the first bit of personal information about himself, even if it was just a tiny detail like that, he came here with the intentions of staying as reserved as possible. He was here to study and nothing more, and he was going to continue to remind himself of that.

“Ah, okay then.” Yaku changed the tone in his voice, like he was finally ready to drop the subject and let Tsukishima do what he wanted. Though he couldn’t blame the guy for trying to talk him out of it, he could even hear Yamaguchi’s voice in his head trying to talk him out of it. Normally, most people would try to talk anyone out of doing something like this, it was probably more demanding than a ‘normal’ job, so he understood where he was coming from.

“You can probably go today or tomorrow and introduce yourself, they’ll probably just give you a tour, and all that. But be careful, they can be a little… theatrical.” 

“Okay.” Tsukishima nodded his head, grabbing his bags and heading up to his room as he played over in his head what he said one last time. He didn’t have much to think about, it wasn’t like he brought that much stuff or had much to do until his classes start, so why not? He didn’t anticipate himself chatting with most of the other students a part of the foreign exchange program either. So to him, the choice was obvious of what he should do with the rest of his free time.

He went today.

 

“This must be the place.” Tsukishima felt like he was almost repeating himself as he walked in through the doors. He had been saying that a lot today.

It had only been a few hours since he unpacked but Tsukishima could already feel himself growing weary of his little room. It was small, just as he expected, with a small bed barely big enough to fit him in one of the corners. Sometimes he really hated being so tall. 

His room also had a window, a desk, and a small door leading out to the balcony, but nothing else remarkable, not that it was anything outside of what he expected. Though, more than anything he was happy that it wasn’t a spacious room, a large room would have given him too much space, it would be like it was just begging to get messy. He could already see himself messily scattering papers and books all over the desk, making it impossible to find his laptop that he buried underneath it all. He never really considered himself to be a messy person, but when someone is given that much free time, anything could become messy. Plus, he didn’t have a roommate, so it wasn’t like he had anyone with him to constantly nag him to clean to remind him of things like it was back home.

There was a kitchen section near the front of his room, with a microwave and a mini fridge built into to. They weren’t very noteworthy and looked like they were several years old, he even had to press the buttons on the microwave with a bit more force just to get it to work when he decided to heat up a bowl of ramen before leaving. But, Tsukishima guessed it would do its job decent enough for a college student, he planned on eating most of his meals on campus anyway, so it wasn’t like he was complaining. 

Lastly, there was a small door in the room that led to the equally as small bathroom, with only a shower and sink, and not even enough counter space to place his toothbrush on. And the mirror was also littered with smudged fingerprints. It was cramped, but he knew he would get used to it. It wasn’t like he was the type to spend a while fixing his hair as is, so he would manage.

It had only been a few hours, but he already left to go check out his new ‘job’, mainly out of boredom. It didn’t take him long to unpack what little things he had, besides his clothes and his books for the courses he was taking this semester, Tsukishima was a pretty uninteresting person, or at least, he considered himself to be that. He had nothing better to do other than walk around, and his job seemed like the best option, it was either that or walk around the university, so this seemed like the better option. And with him still remembering Yaku’s words from earlier, this seemed like the right place. He always did have a good memory, which made it easy when it came to studying and taking tests, as well as remembering details like names, and locations.

Tsukishima wasn’t quite sure what to be expecting, when Yaku said ‘local theatre company’ he was expecting some run-down place in someone’s basement, but when he walked in he was met with an actual building, a proper one, one that looked like it had been up and running for years with proper care. 

There was a ticket stand in the front, right next to two golden pillars that had the ‘happy sad theatre mask’ design all over them. It looked like it was covered with gold spray paint that was chipped from the wear and tear, there was no doubt in his mind that this place was old, but still up and running. There was tacky carpet that looked like it was from the seventies covering up the hard wood floor. For someone reason it even had a rough yet soft feeling to it, that somehow he was able to feel even through his shoes. Then again, maybe it was just because of the way his feet lightly slid on the carpet as he walked a few steps forward.

“Hello? Is anyone here?” Tsukishima called out, but becoming disappointed with the answer. Was no one here? Or were they all just in the back somewhere? Yaku assured him before he left that at least some of the members would be here today. And the door was clearly unlocked, so did they just not hear him?

Still no answer as he waited, Tsukishima decided to take a few steps forward, walking past the front desk. There were two sets of closed, automated doors that led to an auditorium filled with dark red comforted seats. As he looked down the room his eyes could pick out handfuls of paintings of Shakespearian art on the walls, the photos all trimmed with that same gold spray paint, and for some reason the smell of hairspray started to fill his nose as he continued walked forward.

In the front, there was a pit section for the orchestra right in front of the stage, it was empty right now, but several black plastic chairs were gathered around in a circle on the hardwood floor. Up on the stage, Tsukishima could see people for the first time since he entered this place today, there were three people up on stage, and his eyes looked over them as he got ready to speak again.

The first one was a boy with light brown hair, perfectly curled and quaffed, he was wearing an all-white uniform that looked like something from an old Greek play. He even had spray painted golden leaves sitting on his head as if it were a halo of some kind, and he could make out a sheet of slightly crinkled white paper, probably the script in his hands, it almost seemed to glow under the fully lit stage lights. And Tsukishima could tell as the boy spoke that his voice was rather high, almost soothing in a way as his voiced carried all the way to the back of the room. He was very expressive, and with or without makeup, he was quite pretty. 

He was talking to two other people, not acting, just talking, Tsukishima assumed about stage directions, or lighting, or some other theatre thing. Though Tsukishima was good with his hands and more than decent when it came to cutting hair, he knew next to nothing about theatre production, other than what was shown on TV and in movies, or the occasional internet article he would read when he was bored. You could sort of say it was all ‘Greek’ to him.

One of the other two people the actor was talking to had silver hair, he was wearing a black jacket that seemed to have the same logo on it as the university he was attending, another student maybe? He couldn’t make out his features clearly from the back, but he had a pretty soothing too voice as he spoke, it was almost refreshing, he seemed nice enough.

The third person didn’t seem as involved in the conversation as the other two, he was sort of just there, watching and listening in. He had a concentrated look on his face, like he was thinking or deep in thought, wearing a dark blue t-shirt and white shorts. He had dark hair that looked ‘average’ to say the least, it wasn’t perfectly curled like the actors was and it didn’t stick out or make him stick out at all. But something about him didn’t seem to make the word ‘average’ suit him very well.

Upon looking closer, he noted that all of the guys here looked all around the same age, probably all in their early or mid-twenties, not that he was really concerned about their ages right now. To him they looked like everyone else he had met today, to him they were just people, albeit, theatrical people, but the point still stands.

Tsukishima watched closely, he could read their lips ever so slightly as he stood more than ten feet away from the stage. Apparently, the actor was talking about the poses he wanted to do during a specific scene, and how he thought the light should hit him a certain way when he enters. Tsukishima might have kept on listening, he didn’t want to interrupt them. He may have had a bit of a hard personality, but one thing he wasn’t was unintentionally rude, he wasn’t the kind of person who was going to go out of his way to make himself known. Or at least, that’s what he planned to do. 

He saw the boy with the dark hair, the one who wasn’t saying anything, tap on the shoulder of the one wearing the black jacket. Tsukishima could see his mouth read ‘Suga’ as he spoke, assuming that was the guy’s name, and he remembered that was one of the people he was supposed to talk to about this job. The dark haired guy then gestured with his head as he looked in Tsukishima’s direction.

The room got quiet all of a sudden, as the three of them looked towards him, and he could feel his body turn slightly tense as they stared at him. He felt almost awkward having their eyes locked onto him like this. Was there something he was supposed to say?

“You the new guy?” The actor spoke, tilting his head to the side as he let both of his arms fall down to his sides, letting the script make a small noise as it clashed against his leg. His voice was slightly higher than he was expecting. The look on his face wasn’t exactly one of someone who was annoyed, more like inconvenienced. He had almost a superiority complex around him, like he was the star, or the main character, and with the way he held himself he might has well have been. He only just met him, but Tsukishima could already tell he was the kind of person who liked to be the center of attention. Maybe it was just the way he carried himself, but it was obvious.

“It was Tsukishima, right? I spoke to Yaku on the phone less than half an hour ago, he told me you were coming.” The one wearing the black jacket, the one he assumed was ‘Suga’ spoke, he had a smile on his face and a pleasant sound in his voice, and Tsukishima was starting to see why he was the one in charge, something about him just seemed to scream ‘leader’, or like he at least knew what he was doing. Something about him also made it seem like he was the kind of person who could get anyone’s attention, or pull people together if they were misbehaving. Either way, Tsukishima knew it was a good idea not to piss this guy off.

“Ah, yeah… I’m Tsukishima.” Tsukishima could sense the almost awkward uneasiness in his vice as he walked up on the stage, the harsh lighting coming from the stage lights caused a glint in his glasses, making it hard to see everything for a few moments as his eyes came into focus, it didn’t help that there was still that smudge on his glasses either. “Sorry for the interruption.” Tsukishima had a polite tone in his voice this time, almost like he was respecting them. He didn’t come here for school purposes, per say, but he didn’t want to rub any of them the wrong way.

He was now standing at the same level as the three other men, with their eyes on him underneath the still harsh lighting. It made him think that this was definitely something that he didn’t like, not this overall, but he hated having attention on himself, the way they looked at him made him almost feel like he was the one performing here, like he was auditioning almost. He may have been taller than them all, but he still felt intimidated. 

“Don’t worry about it, we were expecting you, it’s not every day we get someone who’s willing to help us, even if you are being paid to be here, and this was the last available job.” The man he assumed was Suga laughed, like he was trying to ease the tension. Was it that obvious how uncomfortable Tsukishima was right now? He didn’t think so, it wasn’t like he was sweating or his facial expression was fazed or anything. 

“I’m Sugawara Koshi by the way, but you can call me Suga, I guess you could say I’m the director behind this whole thing.” He smiled and Tsukishima nodded to him, putting a name with a face now as he let him continue. “This is Akaashi, he’s our sound and lighting guy, you’ll probably report to him more than you will me.” He gestured to the one who wasn’t saying very much, the one who Tsukishima thought looked pretty normal during the previous conversation.

“Hello.” Both Tsukishima and Akaashi nodded to each other politely. He remembered Yaku mentioning an Akaashi, so once again he had to put a name with a face. He knew he would most likely be seeing a lot of these people over the next few months, so right now was probably a good time to learn what everyone’s name is and what they do.

“And this is Oikawa, he’s our lead and the star of the show, as he is in most productions we do.” Suga spoke again, this time looking to the actor, the one who Tsukishima already easily identified as the lead. Standing up on the stage next to him made it that much more obvious that he was the type of person who commanded attention to be onto him wherever he went, even if it was something as simple as just grocery shopping. “You’ll probably be seeing him a lot since you’ll be mostly helping with hair and makeup, so don’t feel bad if he yells at you because this hair won’t lay the right way.” Suga laughed and this time Tsukishima smirked along with him, and Oikawa glared, almost like that was an insult. The term ‘high maintenance’ came to mind as Tsukishima looked at him.

“Hey! It’s not my fault, if you want hair this good, then you have to work for it.” Oikawa sounded almost pouty, crossing his arms in front of his chest and turning to the side. And Tsukishima was having a hard time telling if he was joking or not. But despite all that, at least the people here seemed to get along, these three people at least. He wasn’t too concerned with making friends, but at least this was the start of something.

“Oikawa, do you know who else is here?” Suga asked, changing the subject and getting Oikawa to turn back around, almost acting as if he wasn’t pretending that he was mad.

“Let me think.” He placed his fingers on his chin, curling them and closing his eyes, as if he was trying to recall something. “I know Kuroo’s in the dressing room, he’s finishing up trying on outfits. Bokuto’s here.”

“Hm.” Akaashi spoke again for the first time in what felt like several minutes, he rolled his eyes as if he was slightly annoyed about something. Though, saying he spoke was a bit of a stretch, it was more like he made a disgruntled noise. He didn’t even have to look at him to know that he was gritting his teeth.

“What’s wrong?” Tsukishima asked, feeling his mouth moving on its own. Well, he wasn’t really disinterested right now, he was just taking everything in. He didn’t really have a reason to care about his new classmates and co-workers, but he also didn’t have a reason to not care about them either. Maybe he was just curious, or the jet lag was somehow making his brain think he cared.

“It’s nothing… it’s just…” Akaashi spoke and his sentence trailed off as he looked down at the ground, and Tsukishima got the sense that something was bothering him. He wondered if maybe he didn’t get along with this Bokuto person, since he seemed fine until they mentioned his name. Though from what he saw already, Akaashi did seem pretty chill and like he got along with everyone. So maybe it was something else.

“Bokuto’s been trying to ask him out for over a year, he turns him down each time.” Oikawa chimed in, and the others looked at him as if he just gave out some sort of vital information that he wasn’t supposed to say. He returned them with an expression on his face that said ‘what’. 

Well, it wasn’t like Tsukishima wasn’t going to be able to pick up on that anyway, he was always pretty observant when it came to these sorts of things. It didn’t matter really where you were from, everyone pretty much did the exact same things when they were trying to ask someone out, or had a crush on them. He had never experienced it personally, but it had seen it many times in school where a smile would overcome a person’s face, and their entire demeanor would change when they were close to someone they liked. Tsukishima didn’t really understand it, but it was like they were smiling on the inside.

“It’s not like I don’t like him or anything.” Akaashi shrugged his shoulders, he had a look on his face that this whole conversation was bothersome, like he didn’t want to or didn’t need to talk about it, and in a weird way Tsukishima felt like he was sort of like him. 

Tsukishima hated conversations like this too, any kind of personal talk was a big no-no as far as he was concerned, so he understood how Akaashi felt and why he didn’t want to talk about it. On top of that, Akaashi seemed pretty quiet, a lot like how Tsukishima was. He was getting the feeling that he would get along nicely with him, which somehow made his brain feel at ease.

“I just don’t want to date someone I work with.” Still with that same bothered tone in his voice, Akaashi let his eyes fall down to looking at the floor of the stage, he had a look in his eyes like he was asking everyone if they could please stop talking about it, like he was embarrassed. He was logical, and Tsukishima even found himself agreeing with him, yeah, he could definitely get along with a guy like this.

Though the idea of not wanting to date someone you work with wasn’t too far-fetched, Tsukishima could understand where he was coming from. It had never happened to him personally, but you would hear stories all the time of people who would worked together, start dating, and then break up. None of those stories ever did have a good ending, it would always end up effecting their performance at work drastically because of it. Sure, that might have been fine for some jobs, jobs that didn’t really require much involvement, but for something like this, it was pretty much unimaginable. 

A lot like Tsukishima, Akaashi probably didn’t want to get attached, something that Tsukishima could heavily relate to. He was here to study for the next eight to nine months, and now make a little bit of extra money on the side. He didn’t have time for dating if he wanted to keep his grades up, as well as he was only going to be here for the next three-fourths of the year, there would really be no point in getting attached. 

He told himself this before leaving Japan, but he wasn’t worried about something like dating when he came here. On one hand, it would be really cruel to date someone, get attached, and then have to leave to probably never see them. And on the other hand, Tsukishima was pretty sure he was un-dateable. He was a snarky asshole with minor people skills, and knew how to respect people when he needed to. He was amazed he even had friends back home who could tolerate him, let alone anyone here finding him tolerable for more than five seconds was unimaginable. He had nothing to worry about because he had no plans of dating anyone in his eyes. He never really ‘liked’ people to begin with, so he had no problems there.

“Anyway, back on topic.” Oikawa spoke again, flipping some of his perfectly curled hair out of his line of sight. 

Tsukishima was just now close enough to smell the perfume and hairspray on him. It was just as overpowering as you would imagine it to be, and it stank like nothing he had ever smelt before. Were there seriously people in the world who wore stuff that smelt this bad? And the thought of having to smell this stuff, and who knows what other kinds of terrible smells for the next few months was making his skin crawl, maybe taking this job was a bad idea. But no, Tsukishima would see this through, he was a man of his word, when he said he would do something, then he would do it, so at least he had that going for him.

“I know not everyone’s here today, so other than Kuroo and Bokuto, I think it’s just Ushijima and my Iwa-chan.” Oikawa sang as he got to that last part, with a sparkle in his eyes and his face lit up. Tsukishima had half a mind to ask who ‘Iwa-chan’ is, but judging from the tone, he assumed it was Oikawa’s girlfriend or something.

“Iwa-chan is Oikawa’s nickname for Iwaizumi, he’s another actor that you’ll meet, he’s one of the more quiet ones, he’s also Oikawa’s boyfriend.” Suga spoke up again, he must have sensed or seen the slight puzzled look on Tsukishima’s face. It was only natural that he wouldn’t know any of the people they were talking about.

“Boyfriend?” Tsukishima’s mouth moved on its own again, without consulting his brain to figure out what he was going to say next. Shit. Saying things like that was how people got in trouble and made terrible first impressions.

It wasn’t that hard to believe that Oikawa would have been dating someone here, even Tsukishima could tell he was pretty, despite his ‘diva’ personality. It was even less hard to believe when you consider the ‘theatre trope’ about how all people doing theatre swing that way. And it wasn’t like Tsukishima was one to talk when it came to his sexuality, he found himself being attracted to more guys than girls as it was. So, who was he to think it was a little weird?

“Ah, hope you don’t mind, Tsukishima. A lot of people in our little theatre group tend to swing that way. My boyfriend, Daichi’s, one of our main prop guys, you’ll probably get to meet him tomorrow.” Suga smiled, closing his eyes and showing off his almost perfectly white teeth, he had a pleasant ‘hum’ about him as he did so, like he was proud. Well, it only made sense, when most people talk about their boyfriends or girlfriends, or anyone else they hold close to them, they usually are proud of them. He had experienced a face like that whenever his older brother would talk about him, though he always found that far too annoying to spend time thinking about it right now.

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it, I was just a little surprised, that’s all. So, you guys are dating people who are also here?” Tsukishima could feel himself slowly treading into the ‘being a jerk’ territory, he almost sounded prejudice and didn’t mean to come off that way. But he knew this feeling all too well, that moment when his brain just says something that makes him sound like he’s kind of an asshole, it always rubs people the wrong way, and the next thing you know, everyone is avoiding him. He was used to it. First impressions were important, and he was now starting to get the feeling that he should have just kept quiet, like Akaashi.

“Yes, we are. Because unlike ‘someone’ in this room, I actually date someone when they ask me out.” Oikawa crossed his arms and turned his back once again, he acted like he was snubbing them and being intentionally petty. Or for lack of a better word, he was being a ‘diva’. And Tsukishima was starting to see that he was going to have a difficult time dealing with him, unlike everyone else he had met today.

Akaashi sighed, and he couldn’t tell if it was a sigh of annoyance, or a sigh of he was about to do something that he really didn’t want to do. He watched and listened to him closely, not paying attention to how much time had passed or if anyone else had entered the area around them. “Well, it’s not necessarily about dating him, it’s about-“

“-Suga!” An unfamiliar voice called out, loudly, it was like someone was shaking the entire stage with their voice. It caused Akaashi to not be able to finish his sentence, though Tsukishima was pretty sure he was relieved about that. 

The four of them adjusted their eyes to the new person walking onto the stage. Their shoes made a light ‘tapping’ noise as they walked across the wooden floor, and Tsukishima had a hard time making out any features on the person because of how much glitter was on their outfit, like the bright sparkles were distracting him from anything else.

“I just finished trying on the last of the outfits, this one is my favorite, what do you think?” Tsukishima could make out this guy’s body for sure, but the lights and the glitter were clashing with each other too much to make out anything else. Was it even possible for someone to look this flashy?

The new person lightly ran their hands up and down their body, showing off their outfit, and Tsukishima could see the material move with his hands as he touched it. He noted that it was white, in a similar manner to Oikawa’s, but somehow it seemed more ‘flashy’, with gold glitter everywhere, so bright that it could probably blind anyone. Tsukishima had to force himself to look away out of fear of his already terrible eyesight getting worse. And in a time like this he found himself questioning what this play was even about.

“Oh?” The new guy spoke up again, and Tsukishima could feel a part of his brain going off, telling him that this person had a soothing voice, so soothing that he looked up at the person, this time locking eyes with him, and he could have sworn he felt his heart stop. And before he could so anything, he could already feel his mouth moving on its own again, not thinking as he let the words just flow. 

“You must be the new guy? I’m Kuroo Tetsurou, but you can just call me-“

“Gorgeous.”


	2. Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo gives Tsukishima a tour of the theatre he will be working at from now on, where he meets some more interesting people, and learns a bit more about the place he will be working at. Later, he finds himself becoming more and more curious about Kuroo.

Gorgeous? What did Tsukishima just call him? Were those truly the words to leave his mouth right now?

His mouth was speaking before his brain even got a chance to think about what to say, he knew that much for sure. Did he hear himself right? Was this what it felt like to be flustered? Tsukishima wasn’t sure because every time his mouth acted on its own, it was always nothing more than snarky comments, but this, this was new.

He could only bring himself to bring his eyes up from looking at the floor hesitantly, as he anticipated the disorderly expressions of everyone around him. With any luck, he counted on the fact that they might not actually be listening to him.

“Gorgeous?” He heard the new guy, well, not new to everyone else but new to him, speak. His mind knew that he needed to call him a name now, Kuroo, another name to put with a face. The way he repeated his words, and the way he let it roll off of his tongue, it almost had a provocative sound to it, probably from questioning what he just heard more than anything else. And Tsukishima could feel his brain scrambling as he thought of what to say next, weighing all the options in his head in the matter of a few seconds. If it wasn’t for how quick thinking he tended to be, he could probably have started to feel his palms sweat from the awkward situation he just got himself into.

“Glitter, I said glitter, you have a lot of glitter.” He could feel his mind becoming relieved as he heard the sounds of various ‘ohs’ coming from everyone else in the room. Talk about a terrible first impression. He rolled his eyes in the back of his head and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, feeling the frames brush up against his rough skin. He was hoping right now that they all could just forget his terrible slip of the tongue. To his relief, at least Oikawa was the one who decided to speak next.

“See, Kuroo, I told you, that outfit has way too much glitter, it’s too flashy for the understudy, something like that should belong on me.” Oikawa had a high-pitched whine in his voice as he spoke, crossing his arms and keeping up with that same ‘diva’ attitude he had ever since Tsukishima saw him. Thank goodness someone else was taking over the conversation now.

So Kuroo was the understudy, huh? Tsukishima wasn’t quite knowledgeable when it came to all theatre terminology, outside of what was shown in the media, he knew next to nothing, but he knew what that meant. If Kuroo was the understudy, that meant he was basically the fill in, if Oikawa got sick then Kuroo would be there to take his place. And Tsukishima could sense a little bit of a rivalry in them because of that.

“Excuse you, are you forgetting that I also have a part in this play? Just because I’m not the lead doesn’t mean I’m irrelevant, mister Grand King.” Kuroo scoffed and Tsukishima was sure that he was kidding. Was ‘Grand King’ his nickname for Oikawa? And more importantly, was that a compliment or an insult? He assumed it had to be some sort of friendly jab, he definitely had that ‘king’ persona to him when he saw him standing up on stage a few moments ago. Like he was the lead and the one in control of everything.

The two of them both had their arms crossed and turned away from each other, it reminder Tsukishima of when two little kids would be fighting and they just had to wait for someone to intervene. He could hear the stage floor slightly creaking as they shifted their weight. He could see Suga walking up behind the two from the corner of his eyes, and he had to fight the urge to sneer as he felt a headache coming on. He had only been here for a matter of minutes, and he could already feel himself starting to regret coming here. Well, maybe not regret it, but it was definitely a much more tense environment than he originally imagined. But he had no plans of backing down now.

“Now, now, don’t fight, boys, especially not in front of Tsukishima, our newest member. You don’t want him to get the wrong impression of you, do you? Remember he’ll be the one in charge of making you both look pretty.” Suga was scary, there was no other word for it. The way he touched both of them on the shoulder, and the way he had an ever so slight smile on his face made him almost seem welcoming, but his tone was anything but, almost malevolent. And a thought went off in Tsukishima’s head, telling him to be sure to never double cross him.

The two of them had a shameful look in their eyes as they lowered their heads and arms in unison, and for a split second Tsukishima was sure that he saw Kuroo look at him. It was the subtlest little glance, so small no one else would have seen it, but Tsukishima did. He wasn’t sure what about it made it special, there was a minor glint, a vague smile, and for some reason Tsukishima swore he felt his heart stop beating. What?

He wasn’t able to get a good look at Kuroo until now, not of his face at least, he was blinded by all the sparkling glitter that twinkled in the presence of the stage lights, but now he could clearly see him and make out all the features of his face and body. He was tall, not as tall as Tsukishima, but tall by most people’s standards, he had broad shoulders too, probably muscular, if Tsukishima had to guess, but it was hard to make out features like that when he’s wearing no less than ten pounds of sparkly fabric. 

He also had a tan, a very nice one at that, somehow it made his skin look really smooth against the white robe he was wearing. His face had a well defined jaw-line, smooth yet also very sharp, like the kind of face that was just begging to smirk at you. The lighting somehow made more features visible than it normally would have, making it impossible to miss the small pink colored tint of lip balm on his lips. It was somewhere in-between a beige and subtle pink, but Tsukishima instantly picked up on it. And don’t even get him started on his hair.

It was black, pure black, so black that it was opposite of the white outfit black, but it wasn’t just the color that stood out, it was the shape. Somehow his hair wasn’t normal, or slightly messy like Akaashi’s, and it wasn’t perfectly curled with hair product like Oikawa’s, it was different, it was beyond messy. It was like someone deliberately went and messed up his hair, making it stick out in who knows how many directions, he had bangs covering up one of his eyes, and the back of the hair seemed far more worse than the front. Tsukishima knew that he would meet all kinds of interesting people here, he figured he would meet the typical tattoo, piercings sort, but someone who looked like they didn’t even own a comb, this really was a strange place. 

And for a moment Tsukishima wondered if this guy did this to himself on purpose, he knew that the whole messy look was in over here. He had seen that much on a handful of billboards on his way over to this place. But then a thought crossed his mind, a thought that told him this wasn’t a look that most people typically go for, especially people who aren’t a teenager. This had to be an accident.

“You’re right.” Oikawa sighed, being the first one to speak after whatever little struggle they just got into. He had a calm tone in his voice, almost as if he was saying ‘whatever’. “How’s your shoulder doing by the way, still injured?” He shifted his eyes over to Kuroo.

“Did you hurt your shoulder?” Tsukishima wasn’t sure what made him ask such a curious question, maybe he was just trying to make up for the ‘gorgeous’ line earlier, but he found that that question rolled way too comfortably off of his tongue to a guy he just met. He didn’t even introduce himself yet, and why was he acting so curious about another person right now? He needed to remind himself that he wasn’t here to make friends.

“It’s just a sprain.” Kuroo placed one of his hands on the space between his neck and shoulder, like he was trying to limber up and relax a muscle. “I just won’t be able to do any major scenes for a few weeks, but I should be fine.”

“A sprain is when you fall off the stage and twist your ankle, this is a major injury because you’re too reckless.” Oikawa snubbed him again, turning his head to the side as if he was giving him a lecture. Tsukishima caught a vague look in Kuroo’s eyes, one that was telling Oikawa that he was right. And Tsukishima didn’t have it in him right now to ask Kuroo what he exactly did to cause this sprain, but he found his mind going to the extreme, car accident. It probably wasn’t the right answer, but it was an answer to satisfy his curiosity for now. It wasn’t like he needed to know anyway, he was just the new guy after all.

Tsukishima could feel Kuroo turn his attention back on to him, he averted his eyes, trying to prevent the two of them from locking eyes once again. He wasn’t sure why, but he had this strange feeling knot up in his stomach whenever he looked at him, and it was even worse when Kuroo gave him that smirk. It was like he was seeing right through him and analyzing him. He was already certain that he left a pretty bad first impression on the guy, and the last thing he wanted was to turn an already awkward situation worse.

“I’ll give you a tour, it was Tsukki, right?” Kuroo spoke again, having a pleasant tone in his voice that almost rivalled Oikawa’s as he walked closer to Tsukishima. He forced himself to bring his eyes up as the sounds of idle chit-chat filled behind him, he could hear Oikawa and Suga going on about prop placement, now ignoring the two of them. It was almost like Tsukishima felt like he wasn’t even in the room anymore.

“Tsukishima.” Was all he was able to murmur out as Kuroo extended and arm to him. He reluctantly took it, finding himself all too eager to make eye contact with this guy once again. And he didn’t notice it until right now, but Kuroo was rather cute up close. The way he smiled as he led Tsukishima down a white hallway was almost comforting. Maybe it wasn’t a mistake to call this guy gorgeous like he thought.

Once you hit the backstage area there was a small area where there were shelves to store props and a few immediate costumes hanging on a rack. There were a few microphone packs lying next to what looked like a fake candle stand, and Tsukishima assumed this was just the last minute stuff people were supposed to carry with them on stage. He didn’t pay much attention to the room and the white chipped paint on the wall, it was a small room with two opened wooden doors leading into another white hallway. The only thing he even registered in his mind was the wooden floor and the dark red curtain on the stage, almost like they were giving off the color of wine.

Kuroo felt almost gentle as he led him through what felt like another almost white hallway with a few closed wooden doors on each side. Apparently, this place didn’t really have much of a budget to paint their walls any other color.

There were brown name plates on the walls next to each door, Tsukishima looked at them as they walked past. He saw that one of them read ‘girls dressing room’, another ‘boys dressing room’, another ‘makeup’, and another ‘costumes’. All the doors were closed, but the scent of hairspray filled the rooms, and he saw Kuroo reach out and open one of the doors with his free hand. He only had a few moments of silence before Kuroo spoke up again, who seemed eager to strike up a conversation, and Tsukishima let the words linger in his ear before he answered. It was the first real conversation he had since arriving here, and for some reason he seemed to welcome talking to someone like Kuroo. Not that he really understood why, Tsukishima still considered himself to be someone who hated any kind of interaction. But he still let himself continue.

“So, you’re studying abroad, huh? Was this the last job available?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Tsukishima sighed, keeping the same low, disinterested tone that he always had, but somehow if felt a little too rude, and a little too vague, like he wasn’t saying enough. Which was weird, considering Tsukishima spent most of his life never saying much, but he couldn’t stop the words from flowing out of his mouth as he continued. “The resident assistant told me every other job was taken, but this doesn’t seem so bad.”

“I’m guessing you talked to Yaku then, you haven’t met Kenma, have you?” Kuroo smirked, sounding almost a little too friendly, he turned his head to the side and was one looking directly at Tsukishima.

Tsukishima paused for a moment, over thinking his words as he recalled the conversation he just had with Yaku only a few hours ago. He did remember Yaku saying there was a second resident assistant named Kenma. But then he had a funny thought cross his mind, how did Kuroo know the names of those people? Well, it wasn’t so much funny as it was curious, Tsukishima had been feeling a lot of that today. So he couldn’t stop himself from saying something once again.

“No, I haven’t, how did you-“

“Kenma is my childhood friend, and best friend. He didn’t want to be a resident assistant but they were short of people this semester. I just graduated, but if you see him, tell him I said hi. He’s not very sociable, he just plays video games all day, but if he knows that we know each other, he may talk to you.” Kuroo smiled, laughing, and Tsukishima thought for a brief moment that he was trying to make him smile too. Outside of meeting Yaku, Tsukishima didn’t really get the chance to talk to anyone yet.

When he first arrived there, he was the last one to show up, everyone else was probably already in their rooms resting, but striking up a conversation didn’t really seem like something Tsukishima was interested in. Most resident assistants or other people he would meet are usually the outgoing, too overly social type, the type that can keep talking for hours and don’t know when to shut up. Which was fine, but sometimes meeting someone who is just as reserved as he was would be a nice change of pace.

“I’ll keep that in mind. You said earlier that you hurt your shoulder, how did you…?” Tsukishima didn’t really consider himself to be the bold type, he would never ask questions unless he absolutely needed to, and usually that was only with school work, or some kind of mild problem that might inconvenience him. He always hated doing extra work if he didn’t need to.

When it came to people, Tsukishima could care less, especially when it was someone he just met. He couldn’t even count how many times he just gave vague ‘yeah’s’ or groans when someone he just met started talking to him at a random party or something. It’s not that he didn’t care, it’s just that he didn’t want to. He couldn’t fathom why someone would want to talk to a complete strange they had nothing in common with, even if they were close to the same age. What was the real point in doing something like that.

But when it came to Kuroo, he found himself already asking questions, maybe he was just curious, a different country, different people with a different way of living than what he was used to. Or maybe he just found Kuroo remotely attractive, he did call him ‘gorgeous’ upon meeting him after all, even if it was just a slip of the tongue. 

Tsukishima wasn’t interested in dating anyone, he already was forced to remind himself that he didn’t have time to date anyone while he was over here, not that he wanted to right now. But he was certain Kuroo probably only thought of him as a rude foreigner, and there was really no harm in getting to know a person. Plus, Tsukishima already got the impression that this was the kind of place where the people here just forcibly shove their way into your life whether you like it or not. Putting up a fight would only cause him to have even more of a headache.

“Ah, so you’re curious about me? Why don’t you guess, Tsukki?” What once seemed like an overly friendly person turned into a scheming gaze. It was like Kuroo’s personality switched off, or maybe on. He was smirking at him with a somewhat familiar gaze, like he was observing him, and Tsukishima could feel all the blonde hairs on the back of his pale neck stand up. It was as if Kuroo was eagerly awaiting an answer as he kept his eyes on him, and he swore even his eyes were grinning right now as he caught a glint in them through his messy dark hair.

“Uh.. car accident? Wait, Tsukki?” Tsukishima was caught so off guard with his stare that he didn’t even hear the second half of that sentence. He was certain he heard Kuroo call him that name before when he first met him, but he assumed it was just a slip of the tongue, or Kuroo just didn’t hear his name properly. Tsukishima technically didn’t introduce himself to this guy yet, but what was he doing now giving him a nickname like that? Was that something he just did with everyone?

Kuroo tilted his head to the side, as if he was saying ‘well, yeah’, or giving Tsukishima the idea that he was sort of right. It was like he was practically dismissing Tsukishima’s shocked expression from only a moment ago.

“You’re not too far off, it was a motorcycle accident. And yeah, your name’s Tsukishima, so Tsukki. it’s cute.” The smirk that was already on his face turned into a playful grin, and Tsukishima was certain he was doing this on purpose, that look he was giving him was way too intentional for someone to be doing it randomly.

He was so off taken by the last part that he didn’t even pay attention to the motorcycle thing. When his mind came to, he immediately painted an image in his mind of Kuroo as a biker, dressed in all leather with two sleeves of tattoos, with leather gloves, a helmet, and tight pants to match. He could feel his face start to heat up, and he was forced to snap himself out of it before Kuroo noticed how red he was. His pale skin, of course, only making it worse.

He didn’t even know how to reply to that statement to begin with, he would ignore the second part altogether, but just saying ‘are you okay’ seemed a little too repetitive. Obviously, he was okay, he already said he was okay, and it was far too alarming at how easily Tsukishima could feel himself asking this guy anything and everything. He had just met him, what was wrong with him? He had a cute face, but lots of people had cute faces. Hell, he passed many people with similar cute faces on his way over here. What was it about this guy that made him seem so special to Tsukishima? Was it the shiny glitter that seemed to make his face still glow, even under the normal dim lights of the hallway?

Kuroo finally turned the handle that his hand had been looming over for what felt like several minutes, opening up the door to the ‘makeup’ room. Tsukishima assumed he was showing him this room because this is where he would be mostly. It seemed like a small enough place, and Tsukishima didn’t think he would have any trouble getting around. This place was mostly just one linear hallway as it was.

“Oi! Kuroo! Oh, is that the new guy?” Not even two seconds after opening the door, they were greeted with an almost vulgar yelling from an unfamiliar voice, one that was so loud it made the whole room feel like it was going through an earthquake. 

His voice was loud, but when he saw Tsukishima enter the room, it almost went down to just a normal yelling tone, probably out of fear of scaring him. And Tsukishima brought his eyes up to look at the source of the voice. If Kuroo’s hair was ‘different’, then this guys was the next step above that.

Tsukishima wasn’t quite sure what to make of this guy, he was loud, muscular, with muscles protruding out of his blue tank top, he seemed almost like a body builder, and his first thought was that this guy was one of the people in charge of moving props. Though, that still didn’t distract him from the most outstanding thing about him, his hair.

Like Kuroo, this guy had his hair in a unique style that he had never seen before. It was a mixture of black and white, so much a mixture that Tsukishima couldn’t even tell which one was his natural color and which part was dyed. It was styled up into two pointed spikes on each end of his head. It kind of reminded Tsukishima of an owl he saw on a documentary one time. But Tsukishima was getting the sense that this guy was one of the actors, with how flamboyant he seemed to be, almost like Oikawa but a little bit less so. If he learned anything from what he saw today, it was that all the actors were loud and all the backstage people soft spoken, and this guy seemed like anything but quiet.

Around the room definitely had what you expect when you think of a makeup room. The floor had black tiles that almost made it feel like a barber shop, and several rows of white vanities with mirrors and lights lining the room. It looked like there was one set for each person. His eyes saw one mirror that housed a makeup case that read ‘Oikawa’ on it, with a jar of cosmetic glitter and a container of bright blue brushes sitting next to it. He assumed if he looked hard enough he would find one for Kuroo too.

There were black chairs in front of each mirror, with each of them being bolted down onto the floor. They looked like they were swivel chairs, making it easy to rotate, and Tsukishima already imagined himself standing behind one of those chairs as he helped Oikawa or Kuroo with their hair or something. He could almost see Kuroo’s smirking face looking back at him through the almost perfectly cleaned off mirror as he thought about it.

“Bo, I didn’t know you were still here!” Kuroo yelled as the other man, assuming named ‘Bo’, made his way from the other side of the room to where they stood. He had a certain hop in his step that made him seem like he was full of energy. Watching him, Tsukishima guessed his hair had to be packed with so much hairspray, it didn’t even move at all, like it was perfectly in place, no matter how much he moved his head from side to side.

“I just finished putting away some outfits, nice glitter!” He made a friendly jab at Kuroo, hitting him lightly in the side as he admired his glitter, it seemed like these two were good friends.

Upon closer look, Tsukishima could see the remnants of some bright purple and blue glitter stuck to this guy’s eyelids, he assumed it was just fallout, but somehow it made this guy’s eyes stick out more. And for some reason he felt incredibly vulnerable and awkward as he stood next to Kuroo. He may have been taller than them, but the two of them were intimidating standing next to them like this. Then again, maybe that still was just the glitter.

“Ah, allow me to introduce you.” Kuroo spoke up, stepping out of the way and extending his arms as if he was presenting and showing off Tsukishima. “This is Tsukki, he’s studying abroad and he’s going to be helping us out with hair and makeup for the next several months. Tsukki, this Bokuto, or Bo for short, he’s the best wingman you’ll ever have, and the ultimate punching glove, if someone ever pisses you off, he’ll beat the shit out of him for you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Tsukishima wasn’t really sure what to say to that. Was that supposed to be a compliment? He couldn’t think of any situation where he ever wanted to have someone punched. But he gave a slight smile and nod, as both of them just smiled back at him, as if they were waiting for him to say something. He remembered that Bokuto’s name sounded familiar as he paused to think about it, so he said the only thing that came to mind. “You’re the one that likes Akaashi?” 

It almost sounded insensitive, but when it came to identifying traits that he had learned about these people, all he knew was that a number of them were gay, and dating each other, which wasn’t much to go when it came to identifying someone. And that Akaashi did seem slightly annoyed when Oikawa brought his name up earlier. It was the only thing that seemed to get Akaashi to show any kind of expression at all.

“You know my Keiji?” Bokuto beamed, and he assumed that was Akaashi’s first name with the way he talked about him. It was like his whole face lit up with a bright shade of red, and sparkles in his eyes. Tsukishima had seen that look from TV shows before, and he wondered if that is what it’s like to have a crush on someone. Nevertheless, it was an expression and look Tsukishima had never given himself so he couldn’t relate.

“If you keep calling him that he’s going to slap you again.” Kuroo chimed in, laughing as he placed his hand in front of his face. Tsukishima didn’t notice it until now, but Bokuto was definitely wearing makeup, or more than just the eyeshadow that he had noticed before. His lips were slightly pink and his skin was covered in foundation, probably a shade lighter than his natural shade, Tsukishima recalled hearing in a class once that they do that sort of thing for theatre. He supposed he was only wearing any right now to cover up the supposed ‘slap’.

“Oh, like that means anything coming from you, mister ‘I haven’t been on a date in over a year’. At least one of us is trying to get laid over here.” Bokuto crossed his arms, like he was a child throwing a tantrum, though Tsukishima was certain he was only joking. He didn’t have the same tone in his voice as Oikawa did when he did it earlier. And he was certain it was impossible for someone like Bokuto to have a ‘diva’ personality with how carefree he seemed about everything.

“Hey, maybe I’m trying to get laid right now. Right, Tsukki?” It was like Kuroo found a way to turn a completely innocent conversation they were having with Bokuto, and turn it into something suggestive. He smirked at Tsukishima and sent an unfriendly chill down his spine.

Was he coming onto him right now? No, he was probably just being a little friendly, that was it. Though, something in his brain told him he wouldn’t mind if Kuroo was coming on to him right now, and no doubt his face was bright red as he tried to shuffle through his mind for an answer.

“I don’t…” Tsukishima assumed his brain was trying to say something along the lines of ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’, but only the first few words came out. He could feel his temperature rise under the bright lights of the room, and he was certain Kuroo knew how embarrassed he was when said something like that. Was Kuroo just a big flirt? He didn’t seem that way when he met him just a few moments ago, but maybe he was wrong.

“Anyway.” Bokuto rested his arms on his hips, changing the subject and somehow making Tsukishima feel relieved. “I’m going to go try to find Akaashi, it’s getting late and I’m going to ask him if he wants me to walk him home.” Bokuto waved his hand in the air, as if he was saying ‘later’, as he walked out the opened door behind them, he had the same ‘hop’ in his step as when Tsukishima first met him. He was getting the sense that everyone around here was somehow interesting and unique. That, or only the interesting ones stayed here at this hour. It was getting pretty late now that he thought about it.

“Say Tsukki, where are you staying at?” Kuroo snapped and looked at him, it was like he had a new found motivation all of a sudden. He smiled at Tsukishima, and he could have sworn that in that moment he felt Kuroo reach his hands down and touch his. Why was Tsukishima so flustered today?

In his life, he had had his fair share of people flirting with him, some of which being more obvious than others. Most of the time Tsukishima would pull his headphones over his ears and brush them off. Most people usually give up after learning he is one of the most uninteresting people in the world. He wasn’t even sure what they liked about him, he was tall, smart, and really pale, but other than that there was nothing about him worth mentioning. How anyone could even want to have a conversation with him perplexed him.

“It’s at the… student dorms… about five blocks away from here…” He struggled to even remember the directions Yaku gave him before he left this place. A few minutes ago, he was being bold and asking Kuroo anything and everything that came to mind, but now he was struggling to even think of basic information. He still had the address written down on a piece of paper in his pocket, so why was he having such a hard time remembering it right now? He had looked at the thing more than a dozen times before he got here today, mainly out of boredom, but he still had the thing memorized by this point.

“It’s late, let me walk you home.” Kuroo seemed persistent, giving Tsukishima that same smile that he couldn’t look away from. The eyes he was giving him made it feel like he should have just given in to the guy already. They were, as Tsukishima called him earlier, gorgeous.

“Huh? Well…” Tsukishima trailed off, thinking about it for a moment. He normally wasn’t the type who liked people doing things for him, he was fairly certain he could find his way back to his dorm by himself, hell, he even had a NAV app ready on his phone in case he got lost, but he could already hear a persistent voice in his head. It was telling him ‘you’re new to this place, it’s late at night, you’re an attractive young boy, what if something happens to you?’. It reminded him of the nagging of a mother, but somehow the voice wasn’t very motherly at all. 

He knew he might regret what he was about to say, but he knew he might regret coming here altogether. It was unlike Tsukishima, but all of this was unlike Tsukishima. All of this was so out of character for him, he wasn’t the bold type, but he came here because he was bored with his dull life. He came here to be bold and change things up, and what’s more of a change than this?

Tsukishima brought his eyes up to Kuroo, he didn’t have the courage to smile up at him, but he gave a feint nod and a small murmur as he spoke, hoping it would be enough to satisfy what curiosity the two of them seemed to have in each other. “Okay.”

 

Tsukishima wasn’t sure what made this feeling so peaceful, maybe it was the dark color of the sky, the way the stars looked so luminously lit up tonight, or the cool breeze blowing past the two of them as they walked side by side down an empty side walk. It was a little chilly, but not to the point where you would notice it at all. It was almost like it was howling behind them, and for a moment, Tsukishima thought time might be standing still. 

They did say New York was a pretty crowded place, but right now there wasn’t anyone else in sight. Not even a single car passed them on the way here.

He was pretty sure they were almost there, judging by the distance they walked and how some of the buildings that were slowly coming into view looked familiar. Even if they were harder to make out at night, Tsukishima could still recognize the stout shape of the almost perfectly square apartment complex, with the lights still on in the main lobby and a single lamp post in the side parking lot. Not that anyone there even owned a car.

There was a fast food restaurant right across from the dorms, and he was pretty sure he could see it in the distance because that was the only place still fully opened at this hour. How late was it again? He didn’t arrive here until the late afternoon, probably closer to early evening, and he spent a few hours unpacking and relaxing in his new room, it had to be well after ten by this point, if not later.

His eyes drifted over to his right, where Kuroo was standing. He still wasn’t sure what made him want to walk home with him, Tsukishima was tall and still towered over most of the people here. Even if he was new to this place, the odds of him getting mugged were very slim, he also always had had fast reflexes, so he knew he didn’t have anything to worry about. Maybe he just liked Kuroo’s company, his brain seemed more than eager to open up to him back at the theatre, maybe he just found him fun to talk to. And he did indirectly call the guy attractive today, even if it was just an accident. Maybe this was just some kind of compensation for that.

“So, about that thing you said earlier.” Kuroo spoke, being the one to end the silence. Tsukishima was still getting used to seeing Kuroo outside of his outfit, the red shorts and black t-shirt were a surprising change from all the glitter before. (Though there was still plenty of it left over on his face.)

Normally Tsukishima didn’t mind walking in silence, he spent most days in high school walking home with nothing but the sound of whatever upbeat music coming from his headphones to listen to; but sometimes silence just doesn’t suit certain people, and Kuroo was one of those people. 

If it had been Yamaguchi, his childhood best friend and the only person he was certain he would miss while he was here, silence would have been fine. When they were high school and most of college the two of them would walk home together almost every day. Sure, Yamaguchi would occasionally rattle off some things about his day, but it wouldn’t take Tsukishima long before he would put his headphones in and tune everything out. Kuroo wasn’t like that, he wasn’t the kind of person you could tune out or ignore, he was the kind that demanded your attention and that you reply to him when he talks, and that’s exactly what Tsukishima did, almost a little too eager to speak up this time.

He turned his head to the side. “What do you mean?” He asked, blinking his eyes a few times as the two of them slowed down their walking pace to what barely felt like they were moving at all. For a brief moment it almost felt like they were floating with how they stopped and how the wind moved around them.

“When you first met me back at the theatre, I heard what you called me, you called me ‘gorgeous’.” Kuroo smirked playfully, and suddenly Tsukishima remembered all of the looks Kuroo gave him throughout the day. It was just a tiny little thought, but it made Tsukishima think that maybe that’s why Kuroo kept looking at him. Was it all because of what he said? He couldn’t help but wonder if he kept his mouth shut that the two of them might not be here right now.

“No, I didn’t, I said glitter.” Tsukishima had that same annoyed tone in his voice, one that also sounded slightly persistent, and he made sure this time to put the emphasis on every syllable of glitter.

“Didn’t sound like glitter to me.” Kuroo smirked again, and Tsukishima swore he saw him licking his lips as he did so. And Tsukishima could feel his face heat up slightly, as if he now had to come up with a new cover story. “It’s okay, don’t get embarrassed, I’ve had a few confessions in my life time. So, go ahead, you can tell me you think I’m ‘gorgeous’.” He sneered as he leaned himself into Tsukishima, and he could feel himself lean back towards the street, getting dangerously close to the curb on the sidewalk, if he wasn’t careful, he could easily lose his balance.

“I will do no such thing.” Tsukishima tried to compose himself as he spoke, though he was pretty sure Kuroo could pick up on how flustered he was. It was almost astounding that someone could get Tsukishima to make the face he was making right now. “Please don’t tell me you’re one of those people.”

“One of what people, Tsukki?”

“Those people.” Tsukishima clicked his tongue with annoyance. “You know, the ones with the big egos, the ones who think they can get whatever and whoever they want only because they’re a little attractive.”

“So you do think I’m attractive.” Kuroo smirked, almost like he was too pleased with whatever words he just got Tsukishima to mutter out, no doubt he was only twisting his words. “I must admit, I’m impressed, Tsukki. You know I’m single, right?”

“What does that have to do with any of this? And I just told you, I don’t think that you’re-“ Tsukishima took another step back, trying to figure out what Kuroo was thinking right now. He was normally so good at reading people, but right now, he had nothing. It was like Kuroo was holding the ultimate poker face, he couldn’t read him, he couldn’t tell what he was thinking, or even what his actions were implying. What was with him? Was it just because he was a good actor?

“Tsukki! Watch out!” Kuroo yelled, reaching his hand forward.

Tsukishima really hadn’t been paying attention today, to anything, and especially to his surroundings. Ever since he met Kuroo his mind became jumbled, he couldn’t think straight, he suddenly became weirdly open and willing to talk, and worst of it all, he was actually starting to think that he liked it. Tsukishima like someone? No, he was here to study and work, not to do anything else. It had to be the jet lag getting to him, that was it.

And on the topic of not paying attention to his surroundings, he really hadn’t been paying attention to how close he was getting to the edge of that sidewalk. He took another step back, and he could feel his ankle almost twist as the gap between the sidewalk and the road almost took the breath out of him. His mind didn’t even register that it was Kuroo who was protecting him, saving him, but his mind almost felt relieved when he felt the warmth of another person when he opened his eyes.

“Watch out! You could have seriously sprained your ankle, or worse.” Kuroo had a strict tone about him, almost like he was scolding him. 

Normally, Tsukishima would hate this kind of attitude from anyone, he was well aware of his surroundings most of the time, and he didn’t need to be informed of his own recklessness. But for some reason, he didn’t seem to mind this scolding when it came from Kuroo, maybe it was because he knew he deserved it, or maybe it was because of something else. At this point, Tsukishima didn’t know or care to know.

Tsukishima wasn’t sure how it happened, but Kuroo was now holding him. He had his hands pressed securely around his back, like he was keeping him firmly in place. He probably knew how shaken he just was, and if Tsukishima hadn’t leaned his upper body away, their faces would have been mere centimeters away from each other. 

He could clearly see his eyes and this time he didn’t see the same provoking glint, he saw a concerned look, a look that he was certain he had never seen on anyone’s face before. What was this feeling? They could have probably kissed right now if they wanted to. Wait, kiss? Why was Tsukishima thinking about kissing Kuroo right now? What kind of thought was this that crossed his mind?

“You okay? Can you walk?” Kuroo asked, and Tsukishima could see his eyes scan over his body, like they were examining every feature. And he couldn’t tell if that part was being concerning or provoking.

They slowly started at his ankles, then went to his arms, and then went to his face. He even brought one of his arms around and touched Tsukishima’s arm with his hand, he could easily wrap his entire hand around Tsukishima’s wrist with how skinny he was. He knew for a moment that Kuroo was just trying to make sure he was okay, he did pull on his arm pretty hard to save him from falling, so he was probably just being considerate. 

His hands were just as warm as the rest of him, and Tsukishima could feel every part of his body stand up on edge as Kuroo ran his delicate fingers along the underside of his skin. Normally something like that would have been borderline creepy, considering they just met a few hours ago, and Kuroo was already touching him so intimately. But for some reason, Tsukishima didn’t seem to mind, like he would be okay as long as it was only Kuroo who was touching him.

“Yeah, I’m okay. You don’t have to stand… so close to me.” Tsukishima’s words were still flustered, as expected. It felt like it took him minutes to get out a sentence that would have only taken seconds. He even paused his words as he watched Kuroo doing nothing but looking at him.

“I should come up with you to your dorm to make sure you’re actually okay. You have a first aid kit, right?”

“No, that’s fine, I’ll be fine.” Was Kuroo the thoughtful type? Tsukishima wasn’t sure, he wasn’t being a jerk, he felt like he was being quite nice to him, but something in him told him he wasn’t quite comfortable with bringing him up to his dorm. Was he even allowed to do that? Well, since Kuroo did say he knew the resident assistants it should be fine, but that wasn’t the point right now.

“But we don’t even know if you can walk, and a bruise might not show up until tomorrow.” Kuroo was persistent, he would give him that. 

He still had ahold of Tsukishima’s arm, and he brought it so close to his lips that he swore he was about kiss it. His whole mind was anticipating him kissing it. What was wrong with Tsukishima? Why was he having thoughts like this? This place had broken him, that had to be it.

“I’m fine.” Tsukishima repeated himself again, and a slight lightbulb went off in his head. He wasn’t sure where the idea came from, but he didn’t have the time to question anything right now. “Look, if I can’t walk in the morning I’ll… uh… text you, how’s that?”

“Oh.” Kuroo smirked, almost thrilled. Was Tsukishima hitting on him? He didn’t even have time to think if he was, because that look Kuroo was giving him was almost too much for him to bare. “Smooth, Tsukki. Is this your way of asking me for my number? Then I accept.”

It was scary at just how quickly Tsukishima was able to pull his phone out of his pocket, getting away from Kuroo’s grasp and exchanging numbers. He didn’t even remember until now that he mentioned that his first name was Tetsurou.

“Oh, so you’re first name’s Kei, how cute.” Kuroo smiled, looking down at his phone, and Tsukishima thought for a second that he saw him wink at him through the messy hair in front of his eyes.

“Whatever.” Tsukishima retorted back to his usually snarky, disinterested self as he looked away, shoving his phone back in his pocket, he didn’t even bother to look at any information that Kuroo had saved in his phone. “It’s getting late, so goodnight.”

He waited for Kuroo to say something before he proceeded to turn his back and continue walking toward his dorm, he could make out the stairs not too far away from where he was. But it was only when Kuroo spoke up that he stopped again.

“I’m really glad you’ll be helping out the theatre department from now on, Tsukki, we could really use your help. So, I guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah.” Tsukishima nodded, still not turning around, because that same voice he had heard all night in his head was telling him that Kuroo wasn’t done yet.

There was a deliberate pause when he spoke, and Tsukishima was thankful he was facing away from him right now, because he could feel himself turn an even brighter red as the words reached him, as Kuroo put an emphasis on his name as he spoke. He couldn’t tell what kind of face he was making right now, but he was certain that stupid grin was still plastered on his face from ear to ear. 

“Then I’ll be looking forward to it. Goodnight, Kei.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being a bit longer than I anticipated, and I was a little uncertain about certain parts of this since I think I'm pretty bad at writing dialogue, but I'm still pretty happy with it. Since the first chapter ended up being kind of slow, I wanted to get this chapter out a bit sooner than a week. I'm going to try to be updating this story weekly from now on, and for this story I'm thinking it will probably have somewhere between 10 and 15 chapters or so.  
> I don't actually expect this story to do well, since it's pretty different from every other Haikyuu story I've written so far, but thank you guys for the support on the first chapter. Next chapter we will see how Tsukki is adjusting to life working with Kuroo, and hopefully start the plot.


	3. Wild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima adjusts to his new job and living in a new city, as well as getting used to working with Kuroo, and the various 'flirting' the two of them do. Later, Kuroo coaxes Tsukishima into taking a ride with him on his motorcycle, and Tsukishima does something impulsive.

One week.

It had been one week since Tsukishima had moved here and started working for the theatre, and he was already getting used to it. Well, ‘getting used to it’ probably wasn’t the right term, a job like this was the kind where something new happened every day. Even if you knew the ins and outs of the job, it would be impossible to fully go in knowing what your day would be like. Tsukishima had learnt that the hard way by this point. It had only been a week, but even he didn’t know what to expect with working here, but maybe that was a good thing.

It was, what he considered to be, a normal Friday evening for him, his first real Friday since arriving here, since last Friday was crammed with student meetings for everyone in the foreign exchange program, and right now he was just happy to be away from all that. Seriously, it didn’t matter who you are, but nobody likes to stand around in a big circle and talk about themselves for five minutes. It was even worse when you consider everyone there was in the same boat of socially awkward foreigners who knew nothing about each other. Tsukishima hated people asking about him in general, so how was he supposed to find something like that enjoyable? He wasn’t. But this was much better, if you could believe something like that was even possible.

He had learned multiple names and faces of everyone as the days here went on, everyone seemed to have a routine here. The actors would be off in the dressing room rehearsing their lines or trying on costumes when they weren’t on stage, the lighting and sound crew would almost always be backstage or up in the sound booth that overlooked where all the seats were, the prop guys would also be backstage, usually organizing things based on what was needed for what scene, or sometimes they would painting a backdrop for a scene they were getting ready to do. The whole area tended to have an overwhelming smell of that mixed with hairspray. But that wasn’t the point here. Everyone seemed to have a place, everyone except for himself, it seemed.

He didn’t really have a place to go, most of time he would stay in the makeup room, organizing the hair and makeup products by brand so it was easier to find when he needed it. Sometimes he would go and help out Akaashi, he would just stay back with him and help him with what he needed, sometimes it was just with prop placement or help organizing the costumes, but most of the time he didn’t do anything.

Today was just like that, he had nothing to do. Well, he shouldn’t say he had nothing to do, he had just finished up the daily rounds of doing hair and makeup, it was surprisingly easier than he expected to learn how to do that. Everyone had a certain way of how they liked things to be done, and Tsukishima didn’t have any problem adjusting himself to doing this. Like Oikawa liked his hair to be perfectly curled, just the right amount of hair product, and his entire body covered in what had to be pounds of cosmetic glitter.

Bokuto was similar in the hair sense, he liked to have the spikes in his hair in a perfect shape, Tsukishima even noted that there was a picture of a great horned owl tapped to the mirror on Bokuto’s vanity.

Every time Tsukishima would help him with his hair or something, Bokuto would always pester him with questions about Akaashi, if he had seen Akaashi yet, what he was wearing, if he could ask Akaashi what he was doing later for him. It was a little bothering but he couldn’t really complain about it, Bokuto was just one of those people that liked to open up about anything and everything, he was nice to talk to, and when most people around here had their own little cliques and groups, Tsukishima enjoyed that there was someone who at least made him feel included. Of course, Bokuto pestered him about his life as well, always asking him what it was like back in Japan, what he was majoring in, and what his interests were. At first, he didn’t quite know how to answer them, Bokuto always seemed to have this smile on his face that Tsukishima couldn’t quite peg for curiosity or not. But it didn’t take long for him and Bokuto to have the usual chit-chat every day like that.

Right now, the makeup room was almost empty, one of the other actors, Iwaizumi, was putting away the last of the makeup as he was about to make his way to the dressing room. Tsukishima recognized Iwaizumi as Oikawa’s boyfriend, he remembered that name, but he wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting. Oikawa seemed like such a high maintenance, diva type, and he figured whoever he was dating was equally as much of a diva, but he was wrong. Iwaizumi, for lack of a better word again, seemed pretty normal. He was a bit shorter than Oikawa, he was actually one of the more shorter people here, but he was fairly muscular, not as much as Bokuto, but Tsukishima still found him pleasant to deal with.

He was one of those people that didn’t have much in the way of hair, and his tastes were pretty bland when it came to makeup, which somehow made him one of the more pleasant people to deal with while working here. He wasn’t very chatty, but he still seemed friendly enough, to Tsukishima anyway. It was hard to form a connection with someone after only knowing them a week, after all.

Outside of Iwaizumi, Tsukishima met a lot of new and interesting people the past week here. There was of course some more actors, he met the ‘Ushijima’ they were talking about the other day, he was intimidating through and through, tall and muscular, and with a serious look about him. His voice was surprisingly deep and Oikawa always was really weary around him. He asked Akaashi about it, and he said it was because Oikawa and Ushijima used to be childhood friends who went to different schools, and now everyday Ushijima reminds him of that by saying ‘you should have come to my school’. It all sounded like an inside joke that Tsukishima didn’t quite understand. Then again, maybe that part was for the best.

There was also a short boy with bright orange hair who seemed far too energetic. There was a guy with a shaved head who seemed to have a short temper, and a guy with silver hair, a lot like Suga’s, but he seemed to tower over everyone else in the building, including Tsukishima.

There was also the members of the prop crew and the backstage crew, he met Suga’s boyfriend, Daichi, he was the head of the prop department, and there were several muscular guys along with him. The ones that stood out the most were a guy with no eyebrows, a guy who had a beard and a man bun, and another guy who had blonde hair with two brown-ish colored stripes, he was pretty sure he heard Oikawa call him ‘mad dog-chan’, but he wasn’t sure. Oikawa seemed to have nicknames for just about everyone, including ‘Iwa-chan’ for Iwaizumi, ‘Owl’ for Bokuto, and ‘bedhead’ for Kuroo. Tsukishima was secretly thrilled that he didn’t have a nickname yet.

He knew that there were already lots of names and faces he had already forgot, but he knew all of that would come with time. Right now, he just wanted to focus on doing his job and passing his classes, which he learned that the school was surprisingly more lenient towards people that were in the foreign exchange program. Tsukishima even learned that he had classes with a handful of people who also were a part of this theatre group. Not that that was going to make school any easier, but at least he could have someone to sit with or pair up with for group projects.

“Tsukishima.” A cold, harsh voice spoke upon entering the room, and Tsukishima turned around, as if he was saying ‘what’ with the expression on his face.

As he expected, he was met with the annoyed expression of Oikawa, who had his arms crossed as if he was the most inconvenienced person in the world right now. “Your _boyfriend_ would like me to inform you that he left his phone in here while doing his makeup, and he says that he wants _you_ to give it back to him.” He had a certain way that he talked that made him sound even more irritated, the way he put emphasis on ‘boyfriend’ and ‘you’, the way his words almost sounded formal, and how he clicked his tongue at the end of his sentence gave it all away. And Tsukishima was slightly displeased that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Tsukishima began, as he scanned the surrounding tops of the nearby vanities, looking for that familiar smartphone in that black and red case.

What Oikawa was talking about was another one of Kuroo’s ‘antics’, as he called it. Ever since that night he first met him, that night when Kuroo saved him from falling and they exchanged phone numbers, he had been making various passes at Tsukishima every day that followed. It was usually small stuff, smiling at him provokingly in the mirror while Tsukishima did his hair, reaching his hands around and guiding Tsukishima where he wanted him to help fix his hair, or asking him to massage his head, which somehow Tsukishima agreed to do without question. And now that had escalated to outside the makeup room too.

Kuroo now did this thing where he ‘pretended’ to leave his phone in the makeup room while he went off to another room, it would only be a matter of minutes and someone would come busting in through the room, telling him that Kuroo wanted him to give it back to him. Of course, it was never that simple, he only wanted Tsukishima to give it back to him, and when he did Kuroo would always be in a room by himself, somehow making everything all the more awkward. He would never even do anything, just give him a smile and ask him how he was doing, it was all really weird, and for the life of him, Tsukishima couldn’t decide if what he was doing was actually flirting or not.

“Here Oikawa, can you give it back to him?” Tsukishima took a few steps forward, meeting Oikawa at the door as he proceeded to attempt to hand him the phone.

“Oh no, I’m not getting involved in this, I’m just the messenger- ooh, Iwa-chan!” As if Oikawa had a short attention span, he immediately looked down the hall towards the direction Iwaizumi went, and without giving Tsukishima another chance to speak, he was gone, merrily skipping down the hallway, and leaving Tsukishima to deal with this once again.

He sighed and made his way down the hallway. By now he had learned his way around this place at least, he knew where all the dressings rooms were, which rooms had the extra props, and which rooms were just empty storage space. Kuroo always liked the latter. Every time he would do ‘this’, he would always be in one of the empty rooms, it made it easier for them to talk, as he would say. He honestly didn’t understand it, but if it saved him from several minutes of boredom and putting away boxes, who was he to complain? It wasn’t like deep down he didn’t like seeing Kuroo or anything.

Tsukishima walked past a few doors, he already knew what door he would be in, he picked it out especially, it was room number eleven. It was the very last room on the left side. The room was unremarkable in itself, a small, square tiled room with white walls. There was a metal rack to hang clothes on in one of the corners of the room, but there was nothing else. In a sense, it made it perfect if you wanted to be alone with someone, but terrible for a situation like this. Why did Kuroo have to act like this? Well, it was only some flirting, Tsukishima was certain of that, so he guessed it didn’t matter. He was already doing it by this point anyways.

“Tsukki!” Not even a second after he turned the handle and walked into the room he heard Kuroo’s voice. There he was, smiling, standing right next to the doorway, leaning up against it as he folded his arms in front of his chest, that same recognizable provoking smile on his face.

To Tsukishima’s surprise, Kuroo wasn’t wearing his usual sweats or a costume, he looked normal, or well, as close to normal as he could. He looked almost elegant, dressed in a white button up shirt and black pants, it made it seem like he was almost doing something important as he smiled at him.

“Please reframe from losing your phone from now on, I’m not the lost and found.” Tsukishima scowled as he shoved the phone back into Kuroo’s hands. He was about ready to make his way out the door until he felt Kuroo’s warm hands gently touch his shoulder.

“Awh, didn’t you want to see my face, Tsukki? I wanted to see yours.” Kuroo purred exactly like a kitten, bringing his head so close that he might have well had his head laying on Tsukishima’s shoulder.

When Tsukishima thought of Kuroo, the term ‘flirty’ came to mind. Over the course of the past week he would do things to Tsukishima, little things that meant nothing at all to most people, he would touch him a certain way, smile at him a certain way, sometimes when Kuroo would walk him home, because yes, Kuroo still did that, their hands would touch each other. It was all so infuriating, but Tsukishima never did seem to mind. He never once stopped him or told him he didn’t like it. Well, it was only flirting so there was no harm to it, and it wasn’t like Tsukishima couldn’t stand Kuroo. Ever sense meeting him, Tsukishima found Kuroo to be one of the few people he felt comfortable around. And it wasn’t like Tsukishima didn’t do his fair share of flirting, he was the one who asked for Kuroo’s number after all.

“I can see your face almost any other time, Kuroo, now if you’ll excuse me.” Tsukishima shook Kuroo’s arm off his shoulder as he took one more step towards the door.

“Hey, don’t go away, I actually have a reason for calling you here today?” The wording seemed oddly suspicious. If Kuroo just wanted to see Tsukishima, then why didn’t he tell him that when he saw him in the makeup room earlier? He could have just came into the room and told him he wanted to speak to him privately. But still, Tsukishima bit, he would see what he had to say. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do. It was either this or start writing out the next paper that was due, and he could go for a distraction.

“Need help running lines?” That was almost always the first thing that came to mind now when anyone said they needed help with anything around here.

He had done it once or twice in the past week, mainly when no one else was around, one of the actors would ask Tsukishima to run lines with them. He mainly just did this for Bokuto when Akaashi already turned him down. Though it was still a better past time than anything else when he had a few hours to kill, and came here after classes and didn’t want to go back to the dorms just yet. That seemed to be all Tsukishima did after classes was come here, it seemed pretty boring when he thought about it like that, but it wasn’t like Tsukishima was much for going out and partying, so this was fine, he couldn’t stand the smell of alcohol anyway.

“Good guess, but no.” Kuroo smiled, he seemed happy to correct him. He smirked as Tsukishima saw him fiddle with the black plastic buttons on his shirt, and his mind immediately sent several red flags as he spoke, raising his hands up and halting him.

“Wow, what are you doing? I’m not…” Could you blame Tsukishima for his mind instantly going to something sexual? They were alone in a room and Kuroo was taking off his shirt, what else was he supposed to think? He wasn’t entirely familiar with every scene in the play they were doing, but his was certain it didn’t involve a scene like this.

Though he would be lying if he said his eyes didn’t wander as he saw that open space of skin peeking out through the open buttons of the white material. His chest looked just as toned as the rest of him was, and just as tan too. And was that a tattoo? He could see something in black ink extending out from underneath the shirt. Well, he did mention that he had a motorcycle, so maybe Kuroo had the whole bad boy image. But no, that wasn’t the point here, the point was that Tsukishima wasn’t doing whatever it was that Kuroo was suggesting right now. There was no way in hell.

Kuroo had a light hum and chuckle as he spoke, like he knew exactly what Tsukishima was thinking, even his eyes were giving him some sort of perverse smirk right now. “Don’t worry, I just wanted your opinion on something, we’re not doing anything sexual, at least not yet.” He winked, and there he was again with the flirty-ness.

Tsukishima thought about asking him what he meant by that, but he opted not to, the last thing he wanted to do was steer this conversation towards anything sexual. Although, he would be lying if he said a slight thought that he wouldn’t mind doing something sexual didn’t cross his mind. He knew he was a terrible person for thinking something like that. Seriously, what was with him? He didn’t even know Kuroo that well.

“Alright, what is it?” Tsukishima sighed, looking down at the ground and feigned some kind of annoyance in his voice. In reality he wasn’t actually annoyed by any of this, but he knew the moment that he looked up at Kuroo and watched him take off his shirt, that it would all be over.

He thought for a moment that maybe this meant he liked Kuroo, the thought never crossed his mind until now, it could be possible. Calling him a friend was a bit of a stretch, but ever since that day they first met and they exchanged numbers, he would text him constantly, to the point where it was almost annoying. Kuroo would ask him how his classes were going, Tsukishima would ask him if his ankle was okay. Eventually the conversation would escalate to when his classes end, and if he wanted him to come and pick him up, because apparently, Kuroo’s apartment was only a few blocks away from his own. Tsukishima could have just said no, but each and every time he found himself willingly telling him his schedule, telling him when he was home, and even meeting him on the balcony one time as he returned from his classes.

So, did he like him? It could be possible.

In the beginning, Tsukishima just looked at Kuroo as a moderately attractive guy with a bit of a bad boy streak and a talent for acting. He just assumed Kuroo was flirting with him, he seemed like a decent enough guy. He was really nice to him when he first met him, but the way he saw it, he was nice to everyone. And there was nothing wrong with doing a little bit of mutual flirting with someone you’re never going to see after you leave this place. It wasn’t like either one of them specifically said they liked the other, right? So, he had nothing to worry or to think about. Or at least, that’s how Tsukishima looked at it. What they had was nothing more than two people who worked together being friendly with each other.

“Could you take a look at my back and shoulders for me?” Kuroo had almost a soft spoken voice as he talked this time, and Tsukishima finally brought his eyes up off the ground. He tried to just focus on what Kuroo asked him to do, and not let his eyes wander at the new bits of exposed skin on Kuroo that were now open for him to see. He walked closer to him, trying to do just that.

“Your back and shoulders? Do you mean…?” Kuroo wasn’t exactly making any sort of face that indicated that he was in pain, but Tsukishima was getting the sense that something was off. The way he didn’t give Tsukishima any kind of perverted smirk as he took his shirt off, or the way he turned his back to him without saying another word, it was almost unsettling.

When Kuroo immediately mentioned his shoulders, Tsukishima couldn’t help but think of his injury, he mentioned it when he first met him, or more like the other people around him at the time mentioned it, but Kuroo just got back from a shoulder sprain due to a motorcycle accident. Tsukishima knew that much, and his immediate thoughts were that something was wrong because of that.

He wasn’t that surprised to see Kuroo’s back like this, you see lots of strange things when you work at a theatre. Hell, he had only been here a week but he had already seen Bokuto in nothing but his boxers, so this was nothing surprising. Though, that memory was one that he wanted to dispel from his mind, and it all happened because Bokuto was trying on new costumes and Akaashi just so happened to walk by. What happened after that is probably something not worth repeating, but it wasn’t exactly the best outcome for Bokuto.

As Kuroo slouched down to make Tsukishima even taller than he already was against him, his back looked just as he expected. His skin was just as dark as the rest of him, and looked just as smooth, and was that cologne he was smelling? It wasn’t the kind that was overpowering, but once you got up close to it you noticed it, it had almost a sweet scent as Tsukishima couldn’t resist the urge to take a sniff or two of it. It was kind of strange that he had never smelt this before when the two of them would walk home together.

It wasn’t until he opened his eyes that he was distracted by the image in front of him, the tattoos.

He had seen if before when he started to take off his shirt a few moments ago, and he did think it fit the ‘biker’ image that Kuroo had going on, but did he seriously have this many?

Tsukishima didn’t know to begin describing them, or where they started and where they ended, all the tattoos seemed to blend seamlessly together on his back to his shoulders, even going down and invading part of his chest. They looked well done, and Tsukishima could have sworn that if he touched them that he would have felt texture there.

His eyes immediately caught what looked like a flower design on the right side of his back going down to his right arm, it was a light shade of pink done with a slightly red outline. Cherry blossoms maybe? Tsukishima couldn’t tell you what kind of flower it was, but that branched further down and mixed in with what looked like a tattoo of a cat, mixing that in with more flower pedals. Those flower pedals led to a waterfall that looked so reflective Tsukishima could have sworn it was a mirror, and it ended with a spider web tattoo that ended right at the tip of his wrist. Interesting choice.

The tattoos on his shoulder and upper back looked like tribal designs, thick black lines that seemed to have no meaning, one of them swirling in a circle almost, and Tsukishima thought if he stared at it long enough he would see it start to spin. He couldn’t bring himself to ask him what they all meant and where he got them at, because when he examined them more closely he saw a bruise coming from the open space between his neck and his shoulders, and he immediately remembered what it is that he was supposed to be doing.

“I can’t see it that well when I look in the mirror, but is it that bad?” Kuroo’s voice was still soft and he had his hand placed on the other side of his neck, as if he was trying to steady himself and give Tsukishima a better view.

It was strange how only a few minutes ago Kuroo was smiling, joking around, and even teasing Tsukishima as he was taking off his shirt, but now he was being serious, silent. And Tsukishima wondered how many other people got to see these tattoos. Kuroo could have asked any one of the other people here to help him right now, but he asked Tsukishima. Why?

“Uh… its…” Tsukishima wasn’t sure what startled him more as he reached his hand out, the idea that he might hurt Kuroo by touching his bruise, or the idea of touching his skin altogether. Was now really the time to have such childish thoughts?

“Tsukki, it’s okay, you can touch me, it won’t hurt me.” Keeping up with that serious tone, Kuroo’s voice didn’t change, but he reached around with his other hand, sliding his head back in the process. He reached and lightly grabbed ahold of Tsukishima’s wrist, tugging on it and slowly showing it where to touch.

The bruise was so small, so unnoticeable, you wouldn’t even see it unless you were specifically looking for it. If it was on Tsukishima’s pale skin most people would have noticed it instantly, but not on Kuroo’s. How long had this been there? Every time Tsukishima had seen him, Kuroo either was wearing an outfit that covered his neck, or he was walking on the right side of him, making it difficult to see if anything was on his neck.

Tsukishima could feel his hands shaking as they came closer and closer to touching his skin, and he knew that he just had to say something. Why was he trembling so much all of a sudden? It wasn’t like this was the first time Kuroo and him had touched each other before, but why did this have an almost intimate feeling? Kuroo wasn’t even trying to do anything right now so, why?

“Is this from the motorcycle accident?” Tsukishima asked with hesitance in his voice, even touching Kuroo’s skin it felt like it wasn’t even there, odd.

“Probably.”

“What do you mean ‘probably’? Wouldn’t you know how you hurt yourself?” Tsukishima thought he almost sounded like a mom as his voice scolded him.

Kuroo seemed to almost shrug it off as Tsukishima pulled his hand away. He still didn’t know why he asked him to do this, but he assumed it was to just check to see how bad this thing was, and to answer that; it wasn’t bad at all. But Tsukishima still couldn’t hide the uncertainty in the pit of his stomach as Kuroo got up again, pulling the shirt back over his shoulders but still leaving the buttons opened. In that instant, it felt like whatever serious mood that was in the room was gone. Kuroo turned around, smiling at Tsukishima as he gave him that same provoking look from before. It was reassuring, but Tsukishima still felt uneasy.

“It’s fine, probably. But thank you, Tsukki.”

“I didn’t really do anything, but okay.” Tsukishima looked away, pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose from where they fell down. Though it was more of a distraction to not look at Kuroo’s chest than anything else. What was he supposed to do now?

He felt like he needed to say something or ask him something, but he could read him well enough to know that the bruise was off limits. The tattoos maybe? Would it be too weird to ask him about that? Well, Kuroo already did know Tsukishima’s entire schedule and where he lived, so he thought it was only fair.

“Those tattoos…” Tsukishima breathed out softly, he had one of his hands looming in front of his mouth, making his words even more impossible to hear, but somehow Kuroo still looked at him curiously, like he heard every word. “Uh… never mind.”

“You’re curious about them?” Kuroo smirked, taking off his white button up shirt again, and Tsukishima started to regret speaking at all.

“N-not really…” He was lying, anybody could have seen that on his face, his face was bright red and he did anything and everything to avoid making eye contact, and he knew that Kuroo saw right through him.

“Nonsense. You don’t have to be so shy, Tsukki, I’ll tell you.” It was like Kuroo put himself on display for him, tossing his shirt onto the empty clothes rack behind them. He extended both of his arms as he began showing off the ink on him. “You can probably already tell this about me, but I used to be a pretty rebellious teen, and this is mostly the result of that. I used to be a part of a biker gang too. That’s where the tribal tattoos came from. The cat was a result of a dare from Bo when we were eighteen, though I did get him back by daring him not to dye his hair for a month. You should have seen him, Akaashi didn’t even recognize him, it was hilarious. Remind me to show you pictures of it sometime.” Kuroo laughed, almost seeming light hearted as he quickly went back to showing off the art on his arm. “The flower tattoo here is one that I actually really like. Oh, and on this arm I’ve also got-“

“A biker gang?” Tsukishima didn’t know why that was the first thing to leave his mouth, he already knew that Kuroo had a motorcycle so it wasn’t that far-fetched, it was just a bit surprising. All Tsukishima really knew about bikers was what was seen on TV, but weren’t they more of the dangerous type?

“Yeah.” Kuroo smiled, nodding his head up and down, like he was pleased that Tsukishima was showing any interaction at all. “You know, we’ve all done really dumb stuff as a teenager, right? I was in a biker gang, Bo used to play basketball, and Oikawa… well, he’s always been a diva. What about you, Tsukki, what did you do as a teenager? Invent a time machine or something?” That was an unexpected question, though Tsukishima was starting to learn that everything Kuroo asked him was an unexpected question. He learned that he really couldn’t prepare himself for hanging out with Kuroo at all, he really made him question everything.

What had he done? When Tsukishima thought about it, he considered himself to be pretty boring, he studied really hard and got full scholarships because of that, he played volleyball in high school, but he really didn’t consider that to be something that he wanted to continue doing. Looking at it, all the people he was surrounded with now were far more interesting, they were unique, they were theatrical. And Tsukishima was only here because there were no other jobs available, he didn’t belong here, and he definitely felt that every day when he came here. The only ones to even remotely welcome him here were Akaashi, Bokuto, Suga, and Kuroo, with Kuroo being the one he saw the most.

He felt the most open around Kuroo, like he could tell him anything, and most times he almost did. Even from the moment he first met him he already called him ‘gorgeous’, so it wasn’t like he could do anything more embarrassing, right? He was pretty sure whatever Kuroo and him had was a minor friendship with a little bit of flirting, and it wasn’t like he would see him in eight months from now, so there was really no harm to any of this, and especially in being thruthful.

“I was a pretty boring kid, actually, I studied a lot and that was about it.” Tsukishima shrugged, turning to the side and making his way towards the door. He wasn’t sure what it was exactly that was stopping him from leaving, he could just walk out right now and end this conversation, but he didn’t, like something was just holding him there.

He could hear the sounds of Kuroo’s footsteps hitting the floor as he came closer to him. He placed his arm on the frame of the door, like he was holding him in place.

“So, you’ve never done anything wild? You’ve never snuck out of your house in the middle of the night to attend a party you’re not supposed to be at? You’ve never snuck into an r rated movie? Or drank beer underage? You’ve never done anything like that, Tsukki?”

Once again Tsukishima found himself questioning Kuroo’s intentions right now. He was hunched over, and his face was less than inches away from his own, and he could have sworn if the two of them stopped speaking that he could have felt his warm breath hitting his face. It wasn’t the first time they had gotten this close before, but it was the first time Tsukishima had really noticed it. It was the first time that he really noticed the look in Kuroo’s eyes, the color of them, and how soft his skin looked. It was the first time he noticed how tangled his hair was, or the swift motion his tongue made as he licked his lips.

Tsukishima knew that he might do some things that he regrets when he came here, whether that be with working here, studying abroad in general, or with any of the experiences he made here. His brother told him that he would become paranoid, worrying that he would become a party animal with now living in a big city and all. But one thing he already didn’t regret was calling Kuroo gorgeous.

“What can I say? I guess I’m boring.” Tsukishima shrugged, pulling himself out of his mind. Those words seemed more cautious and sarcastic more than anything else, but he was curious to see where Kuroo was taking this conversation, so he forced himself to keep standing right where he was.

If this was going to be predictable like the movies, this would be the part where Kuroo asks Tsukishima to come with him, and do something ‘wild’ for a change. Well, given that Tsukishima already guessed that Kuroo was a part of a biker gang, you could already say that he fit into that cliché, predictable stereotype. And aren’t theatre people supposed to be into the foreseeable mushy stuff? He had already witnessed enough of Bokuto’s pick-up lines on Akaashi to know that much.

Kuroo smiled, that smirk on his face seeming to get more provoking as Tsukishima looked at him, and was Tsukishima biting his lip right now? Was he tempting Kuroo? Did he want him to ask him to do something ‘wild’ with him? Was Tsukishima seriously changing this much when he had only been here a week? What was happening to him? Normally the thought of doing anything with anyone, even hanging out with anyone outside of classes was enough to make him feel exhausted. But right now he almost felt like he was wide awake, with energy, even though it had already been a long and exhausting week. What was this feeling?

“Then, Tsukki. Wanna go for a ride with me on my bike?” Kuroo put emphasis on it when he said ‘on my bike’, almost like he was trying to show off, or let Tsukishima know that he could give him that ‘wild’ experience that he wanted.

And up until now Tsukishima didn’t even think anything about Kuroo’s bike. Every time they met with each other, walking to and from the theatre together, they always walked. Kuroo mentioned that he had a bike, well, calling it a ‘bike’ was a bit of a stretch, a motorcycle was what it was, but Tsukishima never saw Kuroo with it, so for all he knew, he didn’t have it anymore, and this ‘injury’ they talked about seemed like it happened more than a few weeks ago. For all he knew, this bike of his was destroyed in that accident.

“You actually still have a motorcycle?” Tsukishima wasn’t quite sure if the tone he was giving off was curious or sarcastic, it sounded something of slight disbelief as he widened his eyes.

“Of course.” He smirked, laughing to himself. “I keep it parked out back here. I haven’t used it in a while, because a few months back we were working on a play and used it as a prop, but it still works, and it’s not like we’re using it right now. So, what do you say? Wanna go for a ride?” He repeated himself and this time Tsukishima was forced to answer it.

It was a simple question, probably one of the most simple questions Tsukishima had heard in a long time. It felt like there was almost no emotion in it as he spoked, but at the same time, there was too much emotion in it. He knew it wasn’t this way, but Tsukishima felt like if he said no, then it would be the end of whatever friendship they had. It was like he could almost see that look of disappointment in his eyes.

He could’ve said no, he could’ve said a lot of things, he could’ve just walked out of there without giving him an answer, but he didn’t. Tsukishima wasn’t interesting, he wasn’t like these people, he was just sort of here. He liked Kuroo, he knew that much, and he knew nothing would come out of this either way, and what was stopping him from doing a little flirting of his own?

It was like that exact same feeling when Tsukishima first met Kuroo, that same feeling that pretty much made him hit on him on the spot. The words just rolled off his tongue and he didn’t know what came over him.

Him and Kuroo were already so close but he took another step forward. He could feel his nose bump up against Kuroo’s as he adjusted his head quickly on the spot. He already forced himself to close his eyes, out of fear of seeing the expression on Kuroo’s face right now. He didn’t even think about what he was doing, but maybe it was better this way. Sometimes it was better to be impulsive.

His lips hit against Kuroo’s, and he could feel the hesitance before he felt the warmth of him, he was pretty sure he was wearing that same lip gloss he saw on his lips when they first met. It was coincidentally his favorite, strawberry flavored, and just for a small moment he felt himself get distracted by the taste.

It was just a peck, a small peck, so small it felt like their lips barely touched. When did Tsukishima become so impulsive? Was he the one that was initiating the flirting here?

He didn’t know what to do in a situation like this, Tsukishima never was the one to make the first move when it came to anything, but he knew if he let Kuroo speak that this conversation would be over. He didn’t want it to end, but he didn’t have the confidence in himself to kiss him again.

He still had his question to answer, so he did the only thing that he could think of to do, continue being impulsive. He didn’t even know if Kuroo still remembered the question he asked him by this point, but he was going to give it a try.

“Tsukki...” Kuroo was still the one to speak first, his voice and face had that stunned expression on them as he blinked his eyes a few times. From how close they were, he could see his long dark eye lashes moving up and down as he did so.

He tried to think of what Kuroo was thinking right now, but his mind was drawing a blank, he guessed it was probably something along the lines of ‘what are you doing’?, but he didn’t stop him, so he assumed he wasn’t mad about it. He found that it was actually rather hard to read Kuroo, and that most of the time he ended up relying on his words more than anything else.

He wasn’t really left with much else of an option by this point, either go with Kuroo or leave, it was getting later right now as it was, and somehow just walking home didn’t quite have that exciting ring to it. This wasn’t anything ‘wild’, not in Tsukishima’s imagination at least, but it was a start, Kuroo was a start.

He finally decided to speak, exhaling a deep breath as several emotions came over him. He really didn’t have much of a choice, his mind was already made up, and he didn’t want to change it. “Kuroo… I’ll go for a ride with you.”

 

“Why theatre?”

“Huh?” Kuroo looked up at Tsukishima, placing his helmet on the side of his bike as he kicked the stand for it up, letting it rest comfortably on the side of the road next to the sidewalk in front of Tsukishima’s apartment.

“Well, it’s just that you’ve got the whole ‘bad boy biker with tattoos’ thing going on, I was wondering how someone like that gets into acting.” He had a vague expression on his face, somewhere in-between a frown and a disinterested smile, and Tsukishima couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to him tonight, the last time he had been curious about anything or anyone was probably with his older brother, and that was when he was a little kid, years ago. But right now, he was curious about Kuroo, he wasn’t sure why, but he did things to him. Even when he wasn’t around him, he wanted to see him, wanted to talk to him, and now, wanted to touch him. He even got excited about text messages from him. What was with him?

He wasn’t sure where the time went, it was getting late, and the both of them said their goodbyes to Suga on their way out. Kuroo was already done with any scenes he was in for the night, so leaving wasn’t a problem. And Tsukishima had already packed up all the makeup so he was free to go as well. That was pretty much the only thing his job entailed, doing hair and makeup and then packing up everything once he was finished, he would help out Akaashi when needed, but other than that this job was simple. It was almost funny at how a simple job turned into something like this in what seemed like overnight.

Everything was almost too much like it was out of a movie, Kuroo had a leather jacket on over his shirt and everything, with the a helmet to match. You could sort of say Tsukishima didn’t exactly have a sheltered up brining, he just never had any desire to do anything ‘wild’. He would hear all the time in school of people talking about parties they went to, even inviting him to a few of those parties, but he turned them down each time. Maybe he was just boring, or maybe there was something wrong with his brain that found those sorts of things unenjoyable. But somehow, he was able to turn that part of his brain off when he went with Kuroo.

He wasn’t sure what the most apprehensive part about riding on a motorcycle with someone was; getting on it, trusting the other person to not drive recklessly, or holding onto the other person. Though for Tsukishima, it was the latter.

He wasn’t one for backing out of something once he said he would do it, so he had no choice but to get on behind Kuroo. He didn’t even know if he should do this, but Kuroo took hold of Tsukishima’s hands and wrapped them around his waist. The leather jacket felt cold against his skin at first but he got used to it. It wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought it would be, Kuroo wasn’t that bad of a driver, and he kept turning his head back and making sure Tsukishima was doing alright every few minutes or so. But the most alarming part of all was that Tsukishima felt like he liked it.

They drove around for what had to have been hours, New York was pretty busy on a Friday night, but Kuroo managed to find some places to take him where there were very few people. He probably picked up on how Tsukishima didn’t want to have any attention on him as he was on this thing.

At first, he took him upstate where all of the higher end apartment complexes were, it was one of the more quiet areas around. There were no bright lights, just some lights from the windows of the apartments, making it a lot easier to see the stars, but it was beautiful, maybe it was just overly cliché, but cliché wasn’t always a bad thing.

After that they went to several other places, Kuroo took him to Time Square, it looked astonishing from all the bright lights from all of the billboards, and Kuroo drove around it a couple of times so Tsukishima could take everything in. This was technically his first time doing any kind of sightseeing since he got here. The only other actual time he left his dorm was going to and from university and the theatre, so this was a nice change.

Now they were done, Kuroo was dropping Tsukishima off back at his place, and he would probably be going to bed soon and seeing him tomorrow. It felt good to stretch out his legs after the long, cramped ride, and right now Kuroo was looking at him peculiarly as he leaned up against his bike. It was almost like he was asking him if he enjoyed it. Of course, Tsukishima wasn’t about to admit that he actually did, he could already hear the sounds of him teasing him as he even thought about telling him it. There was no way he was giving Kuroo that kind of satisfaction.

His entire outfit was black except for the small portion of his white shirt that could be seen through the jacket, and if it wasn’t for his cat-like eyes that almost seemed to glow, he might not have seen him at all. Tsukishima on the other hand stuck out with his blonde hair, light pale skin, and white t-shirt with the university logo on it. They almost looked like polar opposites right now.

“Well, answer me this, Tsukki. why did you choose to study abroad?” He smirked at him, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Odd. The question almost seemed out of place as Tsukishima zoned back in on what was happening around him.

That question was probably the most odd one he had been asked all night. Throughout the ride, they couldn’t really talk to each other, just small glances here and there were all they had, but it felt like through just doing that, that they got to learn more about each other. Kuroo nearly had a protective, reassuring gaze in his eyes as he looked at him through the entire night.

“I don’t really know, different, I guess.” That answer was just about as vague as you could get, but truth be told, Tsukishima didn’t have an answer. He didn’t really know why he did this, it was different and he needed a change.

“Well, there you go.” Kuroo smirked once again, walking away from his bike and over to where Tsukishima was, up against the railing of the stairs that led up to the balcony of the dorm apartments. “Though, actually, back in my second year of university Bo got a crush on someone, I’m sure you could guess who, and he wanted to join the theatre department to get closer to him, he was a little too worried to go on his own, so he forced me to go with him. I ended up filling in for one of their leads at the time and I wasn’t half bad at it.” He chuckled towards the end of his sentence, and Tsukishima was getting the sense that it was his turn to say something personal. “So, what about you, Tsukki?” And there it was, for some reason Kuroo had a way with words, and a way to get Tsukishima to say anything and everything, regardless of how many red flags were going off in his brain, telling him to not say it.

“I guess I just wanted a change, no real reason.” It wasn’t a lie, but he felt like he could have at least said more, tell him that he wasn’t exactly happy with his life back home, but unlike every other time he spoke, the words just wouldn’t come out. If anything, his mind was telling him to avoid the subject as much as possible. “It’s getting late, I should go, I have a paper to write.” The perfect time to change the subject, as Tsukishima changed the subject and started slowly making his way up the stairs.

It was like his body decided it couldn’t move at a fast speed anymore, like it was waiting for something, he felt this feeling back in that one empty room with Kuroo today too, like his body didn’t want this to end. But he couldn’t bring himself to say anything or look at Kuroo right now, so he was just going to have to see how far this takes him. He didn’t really have feelings for Kuroo, he was just cute and they would flirt, but that was it. He kissed him, but there was no real reason behind that, and Kuroo didn’t mention anything about it after it happened, so-

“Tsukki!” Kuroo called out, and Tsukishima stopped dead in his tracks, turning himself around, he could feel Kuroo’s hands lightly touching his wrist that was on the railing. His gloves were now off and his fingernails tickled against his soft skin, sending goosebumps all over his body, and it felt like he became paralyzed the moment Kuroo touched him.

It was like he was watching everything happen in slow motion, the way he stood still, the way he watched Kuroo slowly make his way up the stairs and meet him face to face, and the way his body seemed to shiver against the cold air, right before it was greeted with that familiar feeling of temperateness on his lips once again.

It was longer than the first time, more passionate, he could still taste the strawberry flavored lip gloss, and was that his tongue he was feeling lick his lips? Why was he such a good kisser? And the way Kuroo leaned into him was almost too much to handle – almost.

If it wasn’t for Tsukishima taking a step backwards and hitting the back of his heal against the stairs, he may have wanted this to go on longer. He wasn’t experienced when it came to this sort of thing, and he had no idea what he was doing, but he liked it, he knew that much. And maybe, just maybe, he would like to do it again.

At this point Kuroo must have sensed how flustered Tsukishima was, because all he did was smirk and lean in closer to whisper in his ear. “That’s a thank you for taking a ride with me. I’ll pick you up again tomorrow afternoon, alright?" It wasn’t like Tsukishima had any complaints with that, his whole mind was crying out right now telling him to say something, but all he could do was just nod. Maybe he was just terrible at dealing with his feelings like this, he never really did have to deal with this sort of thing before, but here he was, somehow not annoyed, but intrigued. This time it was Kuroo who kissed him, he didn’t hate it, and from the looks of it, neither did Kuroo. What could this mean?

But instead of saying anything, all Tsukishima could do was turn the corners of his lips up in a vague grin, thinking that maybe he wouldn’t mind being kissed again.

He began to nod his head up and down slowly, hoping that maybe Kuroo wouldn’t think he was being rude right now. But despite his efforts, that one vague word was all that was able to come out, but he knew from that look in his eyes that Kuroo was understanding him perfectly.

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter because I'm terrible at having any self control when I write these kinds of stories.   
> For this story I wanted to give Kuroo more of a serious back story, I feel like in all of the Kurotsuki stories I wrote, they all featured the main problems and conflicts revolving around Tsukishima, while Kuroo remained as the supportive, rich boyfriend. So I wanted to change that up a bit for this story. I couldn't decide for this chapter if I should have kept the part in where they go for a ride on Kuroo's motorcycle or not, but I opted to keep it in.   
> So, I hope you guys enjoy it. Next chapter will have more of Tsukishima working at the theatre, maybe some line reading, and other theatre stuff. :)


	4. Performing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima reads some lines with Kuroo, and Kuroo helps him embody the spirit of acting. Little to do they know, Suga is eavesdropping on them, and he comes up with an idea.

“Tsukishima, glad you’re here, we need your help.”

“Huh? What is it?” Tsukishima almost felt perplexed as he looked at Suga, it hadn’t even been two minutes since he walked into the theatre today, and already Suga was chasing him down in the main hallway that was there.

He almost looked like he was out of breath from running down the empty hallway, with a drained expression on his face as he was panting. Tsukishima guessed he was probably running all over the building, looking for someone to help them with whatever they needed.

He had just got there, just walking in through the back door that was only accessible for employees. It had felt like another long day of classes, they told him that they recommend foreign exchange students to have a full schedule so they can get as much experience as possible, but Tsukishima didn’t think it would be this tiring. And did every class he was in have to be a two-and-a-half-hour lecture? Sure, he was diligent and studied hard, but even he had his limits of how long he could pay attention for. He needed a break, and it didn’t matter if that break was work related by this point.

It was already another Friday like any other, right at the end of the week, and Tsukishima swore he couldn’t have felt happier. He felt so relieved that he didn’t have any papers due, and after this he could go back to his only slightly uncomfortable dorm room and sleep for who knows how many hours. He didn’t understand how sitting in a lecture hall for most of your day could feel so straining, but it was, and right now he wanted nothing more than to get work over with so he could go take that nap.

School was fine, just as he assumed it would be, most university were the same thing but with slightly different faces, or that’s how Tsukishima looked at it. Sometimes he felt like he hadn’t left Japan at all. But that still didn’t stop school from feeling demanding still, of all the professors in the school he had to be assigned the one who was extra critical at grading papers, making that paper he worked so hard writing about dinosaurs only getting a solid B, he knew he could do better, and the last thing he wanted right now was to damper his already depraved mood.

But still, he was here, he showed up after his classes to come help out at the theatre, like he did every other day. He knew they were still several months off from performing this play, and the year wasn’t even half way over yet. Sure, midterms were fast approaching, but he had nothing to worry about, and doing hair and makeup was nowhere near as demanding as writing papers.

It had been no less than a month by now, well actually, it may have been a month, he had stopped counting the days and now relying on homework assignments as his unit of time measurement. All he knew was the day of the week and what month it was, but it wasn’t like that would help at all anyway. He had written ten assignments since being here, and that’s what was important to him, whenever Tsukishima tried to think about a specific time and date he just draws a blank and thinks of what happened that day. How many classes did he have? How many papers were due this week? Which lecture did he seriously think about skipping in favor of getting more sleep? How many hours did he spend at the theatre? How many times did Kuroo hit on him that day?

Kuroo. his mind always did seem to get distracted when he thought about him, maybe that’s why he couldn’t tell what time it was anymore. It wasn’t like you could use a person as a realistic measure of time, well, you probably could if you tried hard enough. You could probably do anything if you tried hard enough. Just like how Tsukishima always seemed to think about Kuroo, no matter how hard he tried not to.

When Tsukishima tried to come up with a word defining what him and Kuroo were, all he could do was come up with something close to friends. They saw each other every day, even on the weekends and on Sundays. Kuroo had his schedule memorized long ago and was always there waiting for him outside his dorm room when he got back, even to the point where Kenma would scold Kuroo and tell him to go home when they would walk through the lobby together. He would be there to walk him home too. No matter how late Tsukishima stayed to work on hair or put things away, no matter how early Kuroo got done running the scenes he was in, he would always wait for Tsukishima.

It wasn’t entirely Kuroo’s doing though, in some ways, Tsukishima was waiting for him too. There were multiple nights when Tsukishima got down early, and both Akaashi and Suga told him he could go home, but he didn’t. He stayed, he waited, he wasn’t sure why he did so, but he did, like there was something in him that didn’t want to leave just yet. Sure, you could probably say it was because he didn’t want to go back to the dorms yet, to go back to sleep, or that he didn’t want to be alone again, but Tsukishima knew deep down there was another reason.

He would wait in the hallway, right between the spot of the makeup room and the male dressing room, a place he knew Kuroo would surely walk by, since a lot of the actors liked to store their bags in the dressing room so they wouldn’t lose them while they were on stage. It was almost like it was there version of having lockers for athletes, there was even a spot for Tsukishima to put his things too. He would always wait there for Kuroo to show up, no matter how long or boring the wait was, he always would.

And just as he suspected, he always did, Kuroo would always show up. He would have a smile on his face that would turn into a smirk as he would yell ‘Tsukki, I’ll take you home’ the very moment he would see him. Tsukishima would say ‘okay’ every time in response. It was part of their routine now, everyone knew it, but somehow nobody said anything, probably just out of not caring. But Tsukishima knew it was better that way, the last thing he wanted was for more unwanted attention onto. Kind of ironic considering the lengths he went to in order to see Kuroo. And the theatre is probably the last place you should work at if you don’t want any attention on you.

Did he like Kuroo? Maybe. Well, there was no ‘maybe’ about it, he knew he did. No one does these kinds of things if they don’t like someone. If he only wanted to be his friend, then he would live his life normally, just talking to him and seeing him whenever he had the chance, he wouldn’t do something like this. He liked Kuroo, in the romantic way, but was he going to do something about it? That was a different story entirely.

“One of our other actors can’t be here today and most of the crew has the day off, I need to watch the scene for lighting reasons, and you’re the only other person available right now, so would you just come and read some lines for us? You don’t have to act or anything, but these scenes work a lot better when there’s at least another actor there.” He seemed panicked, well, not really panicked but winded as he hunched over. His breath looked like it finally slowed back down to a normal pace, as Tsukishima easily zoned in on the sweat pouring off of his forehead. And his eyes almost had a desperate look in them as they looked up at him.

He didn’t remember who it was specifically, but he recalled that a lot of people weren’t going to be here today. They mentioned that some band they all wanted to see was playing at one of the local malls or something. He honestly couldn’t remember the details of it. Well, it would have been an easier day for Tsukishima anyway, so he couldn’t complain. It wouldn’t be his first time reading lines, after all.

He had read lines with some of the actors a few times before to help them memorize them, usually it happened in the hallway when he first got there or when he was about to leave. It usually didn’t take more than a few minutes, and it wasn’t like reading words on a paper would take more effort than that. The only difference this time would be they would be up on stage. But it wasn’t like he couldn’t do it. As long as there wasn’t an audience, Tsukishima would be fine with it.

“Okay, I’ll do it, what scene is it?” Tsukishima already started walking his way from the hallway towards the stage, grabbing one of the spare scripts lying around in one of the dressing rooms on his way out. He could hear Suga following behind him as he started flipping through the crinkled up white pages.

He could clearly see this was Bokuto’s script he was using, it had his name scribbled in a sloppy manner up at the top of the first page, and for some reason the paper reeked of his cologne, how was that even possible? Though, it wasn’t that hard to believe, after they leave every night, a handful of the actors ‘forget’ their scripts and just leave them lying around wherever, and Bokuto was one of those people. He would often hear Suga or one of the other members scold him and tell him to not be so careless, but it wasn’t that hard for Tsukishima to pick up on what he was doing. Or rather who he was trying to do. He was trying to get Akaashi’s attention.

Occasionally, Akaashi would be in the room while the others were reproaching Bokuto, and every so often he would chime in with a ‘you shouldn’t be so careless’, and he would actually listen to him. He would beam up with a ‘you’re so right, Akaashi’, and then try to hit on him with a ‘you should help me practice my lines so I don’t need a script anymore’. The other members treated it as if it were a miracle, that Akaashi had some kind of magic touch and that he could get Bokuto to do and listen to anything, but everyone knew what was really going on, they knew why Bokuto only acted that way around Akaashi.

Of course, him hitting on him worked just about as well as anyone could guess, Akaashi would always walk off after that, leaving Bokuto with a slightly unfulfilled look on his face, but yet somehow happy that he even managed to get his attention at all. He really was a simple minded person, as Akaashi warned him about, but maybe being that simple minded was a good thing, it meant you worried less and that you didn’t care about as much. And Tsukishima thought that maybe he should try being someone like that. He had spent so much time around actors these past few weeks that it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise if their talents rubbed off on him.

“It’s Act two scene one.” Suga spoke up again, and Tsukishima started to quickly rummage through the crinkled up pages as he listened to Suga continue. “The only other person in the scene is Kuroo, so it shouldn’t be that difficul-“

“Kuroo?” Tsukishima’s mouth almost flung open as he flipped to the page, he had forgotten about this scene.

The play itself they were doing wasn’t a rendition of a Shakespeare play, Hamlet. Suga had explained before that they alternate between doing original and known work, they had just got done doing a play that him and Daichi wrote in the months prior to Tsukishima arriving here, and they do four productions a year, one every three months or so, hence why they always seem to stay busy and why the crew is so good. This time it was turn for a known work, and nothing was more known than Shakespeare. Considering most of their theatre department was male, Tsukishima didn’t even have to question why they chose to do a play like that.

That being said, he forgot all about Act two scene one, which was odd considering he spent most of his free time here standing back stage and listening to them perform. But now that he remembered it, he remembered this scene quite well, it involved Kuroo’s character, he knew that much because his brain did always tend to pay extra close attention when Kuroo was on stage, maybe he just liked observing him and all of the expressions he made, it was like he was an entirely different person when he was on stage. It was something that Tsukishima almost found admirable.

The scene involved Kuroo with one of the other actors, Tsukishima was pretty sure his name was ‘Kageyama’, but he really never talked to him before, so he could be wrong. Tsukishima felt terrible for still not knowing much about theatre, he probably couldn’t even tell you what this play was about because he only listened in on a few scenes here and there. But he knew a couple of the guys had to cross dress and put on some dresses from the costume department. He also remembered that he had to style some longer wigs onto the actors before, and that Suga requested him to make them look more feminine when he did some of the actor’s makeup.

“Is there a problem with doing it with Kuroo?” Suga asked curiously, and Tsukishima wasn’t exactly paying attention. He got so busy looking through the script that he even forgot what he said prior to that, but he heard the words ‘doing it with Kuroo’, and he got red in the face.

“Oh, n-no.” He tried to play it off, turn around so no one could see how flustered he was, but he heard a slight chuckle from Suga, like he was amused, and he knew that he could see right through that red face of his. There was something about Suga that made him feel like he knew everything about you, even when he just met you. Something about him made Tsukishima feel like he could know what he was thinking and instantly knew all his secrets. It almost made him feel on edge as he spoke to him now.

“I just forgot about this scene, that’s all.” Tsukishima added, still keeping himself turned around, trying to conceal his red face. Curse his pale skin.

“Well it’ll be fine.” Suga smiled again, resting his hand on his hip as if he was trying to bolster him. “It’s not like this scene has anything super embarrassing in it anyway-“

“Tsukki! Are you here to read for me?” As if he appeared out of nowhere, Kuroo started walking down the hall, waving his hand in the air, trying to get their attention, he had a contented smile on his face, one that made him almost look too cheerful as he smiled and tilted his head to the side. Suga didn’t even get a chance to finish his thought, but he didn’t seem to mind. Tsukishima didn’t even have to say anything because Kuroo already knew that was exactly what he was here to do.

He waited for his cue, like it was a little nod and a smile from Suga, and then they were both gone. He was being dragged down the hallway towards those harsh, bright stage lights, the ones that almost blinded him the first time he saw them, and he thought for a moment that he may pass out from his head spinning so much. There was something about only the two of them being up on the stage that made it feel so much bigger, almost intimidating, and Tsukishima felt like the room would swallow him whole. But then again maybe that was just the thrilled expression on Kuroo’s face. Had Kuroo always been the excited type? Or was this all some weird dream? He really hoped that it would all be a dream, he didn’t really want to do this right now, but he knew as soon as Kuroo spoke again that it wouldn’t be.

“Okay Tsukki, let’s practice.”

 

 

 

“Good work today.” Kuroo collapsed down on the floor, stretching his body out across the wooden floor of the stage. His breath grew heavy and Tsukishima could see the way his chest moved up and down threw his red shirt underneath the harsh lighting of the stage. It almost looked peaceful, and it somehow made his skin look lighter. For a slight moment, Tsukishima could see that look of satisfaction in his eyes as he reached for his blue plastic water bottle a few feet away from him.

“Yeah, you too.” Tsukishima wasn’t the best for conversation in a situation like this, all he managed to do was slouch down on the stage floor next to him, a few feet away from him, crouching and bringing his knees up to his chin. Though he was also exhausted, he had a hard time putting forth the same level of enthusiasm that Kuroo did when he was on stage.

He could easily see the way his face lit up, the way he knew all the lines from memory, it was like he was a completely different person. Well, that wasn’t too far off, in a way he was, Kuroo wasn’t the same person when he was on stage, he was an actor, someone embodying the role, whether that be a king of some random person in the background, he gave it his all. Tsukishima could tell that much when he knew next to nothing about theatre. And for some reason, he was envious.

Maybe it was just because this was so unlike anything he had ever done before, but Tsukishima had been thinking it previously, he really didn’t belong here. He couldn’t act and the closest he could get to faking a smile was when he was absolutely forced to. For a minute, he thought that he should quit, but no, quitting wouldn’t solve anything. The people here didn’t expect anything from his regardless. What was he trying to run away from again? His responsibilities he already had at this place? Or any sort of social interaction in general?

“Tsukki.” Kuroo lips spoke softly as he leaned over, reminding him of the reason he was here in the first place.

He didn’t even notice until right now how close to two of them were. So close that he could feel Kuroo’s hot breath on his face, he could smell what he ate for lunch today too. the strong scent of jalapeno pepper pizza and garlic bread clouded his vision, and Tsukishima thought he might pass out from the smell.

Tsukishima was still in that same position with his knees up to his chin, and Kuroo was leaning over, putting most of his weight on his elbows as he almost laid sprawled out on the floor, and his hair sloppily fell in front of his eyes.

He had a tried and hazy look about him, probably from giving it his all today during his performance, it was pretty hot with these bright stage lights, after all. The way he slightly parted his lips almost made him look intoxicating. It was like that same look he gave him right before he kissed him those some odd weeks ago, only this time he wasn’t freezing in leather, he was sweating in well, sweats.

Tsukishima didn’t exactly think much about that night, well, he didn’t try to forget it either, and he didn’t exactly send Kuroo any signals that told him he wanted him to stop. In some ways, Tsukishima was the one who was initiating the flirting. He almost felt like his body would move forward and move to kiss him right then and there. What exactly were they? Well, it wasn’t like Tsukishima needed a definition, Kuroo was eye candy, someone who was nice to flirt with, nice to talk to, and nice to kiss. They had only kissed twice so it wasn’t like Tsukishima expected anything out of this, plus, he wasn’t looking to date someone over here right now anyway.

They came from different worlds sort of, well, different leagues, everyone here did. And though none of them told him that directly, mostly because they were all to nice and too considerate, but he could sense it all over. They were the kind of people that would out of their way to make everyone feel included, the social type, the ones that talk so much that it starts to get on your nerves. Most of them probably came from good backgrounds and good families, if Tsukishima had to guess. But unlike him they actually had talents, they were special, and he almost envied them because of it.

“Sorry for that scene today.” Tsukishima forced himself to stand up. He wasn’t sure why, but when someone looked at him the way Kuroo was, he got this uneasy feeling in him, a feeling that forced him to dig his nails into his skin to find a distraction.

“Huh? What for?” Kuroo followed him, and Tsukishima laid the script down back stage next to some microphone packs, thinking there was no way Bokuto could miss it.

He stretched out his limbs that were starting to ache from sitting for so long, and he could see the subtle mark his nails left in the side of his arm. It wasn’t painful or anything, put his pale skin definitely made it noticeable. He shifted his weight and did his best to hide it from Kuroo, who seemed oblivious to it for now.

“No reason. My acting probably just wasn’t as good as your partner is for that scene.” Why was Tsukishima so somber all of a sudden? He could feel himself almost depressing the mood as he looked down at the wooden floor, there was a slight chip in one of the planks that he didn’t notice until now. He thought that it was amazing that no one had tripped on it yet.

“Oh, what’s this?” He could hear the sound of Kuroo smirking, he didn’t have to be looking at him to know that, it was almost like an amused sneer, and Tsukishima felt like he was vulnerable, like this bed headed man found some sort of weakness in his what once was unbreakable armor. Come to think of it, this was probably the first time he had even expressed a deep, sad emotion like this in front of anyone.

Tsukishima wasn’t one for expressing most emotions in front of anyone, whenever he felt something like this, he would usually just hide himself away, whether that be in a room or the nearest bathroom, he hated this feeling. Most people couldn’t draw it out of him, and if they did he didn’t show it at all. This was new for him. What was it about Kuroo that made him feel this way?

“Your acting seemed just fine to me, it was facial expressions that made it mediocre. You need to emote more.” Kuroo said it almost as if he was giving a critique, which surprised Tsukishima.

“Emote more?” Out of all of the assessments that Tsukishima had heard about himself, this one was new. He was used to it from years of people telling him he looked too serious and too unapproachable, and that it was that bored expression in his eyes that made him look so cold, or that if he smiled more and became more personable that he would have more friends. Or most of all, that he needed to be more like his brother.

There were two things you could do to Tsukishima to piss him off. Number one was have him do any extra work that inconvenienced himself. Tell him to stay for extra practice, or work over time at an old job without getting paid, anything that wasn’t expected of him to be done right now. He hated it. Here wasn’t so much of a big deal because he knew what was expected of him, he knew what to do, and in the rare instance he did decide to stay over, it didn’t matter. Staying here was pretty much the exact same thing as going back to the dorm, he could get some peace and quiet to work on his homework after he finished doing hair and makeup. In a lot of ways this was better than the dorm, he didn’t have people knocking on his door every other hour, asking him if he wanted to go hang out in the lounge or something. All he really had to do was make small talk with people and that was it. He wasn’t an actor, but everyone had the basic abilities to talk about the weather and listen, and at least these people understood how unapproachable he was.

Number two was the more problematic one, the one that was more common, he hated when people compared him to others. It was probably something that was expected of when having a sibling, constantly hearing the ‘oh, you’re nothing like your brother’, or ‘you should try to be more like your brother’, or ‘when your brother was your age he did it this way’, it all gave him a big headache.

That was another reason why studying abroad was a good idea, when he was in Japan he ended up going to the same middle and high school as his brother, being in the same club, and even having some of the same teachers. He thought college would be different, though not much different, some of the professors he had even knew who his brother was, making it just as annoying as high school.

It was unintentional, but it wasn’t something that was related solely to his brother, whenever someone would compare him to anymore, like any of the first years on the volleyball team back in high school, or the next smartest student in the class, or now the person that Tsukishima stood in for on the stage. He knew he could never be anything like them, and he hated that comparison. Nobody wants to be compared to someone who they know is already better than them. Even if he knew Kuroo didn’t mean anything by it, or even know, it still didn’t cease to piss him off, making him scowl and click his tongue in response.

“Here, I’ll show you.” Kuroo must not have been picking up on the somber attitude in Tsukishima’s voice, that or he just didn’t care, because he grabbed ahold of his arm and started leading him back towards the stage. “Now, let’s see, where did he put it…” He started talking to himself as he reached the other side of the backstage area, where all of the lighting and sound equipment was, and where they stored a few of the immediate props, the ones that had already been painted and were all set to go. Sometimes when you got close enough to them you could still smell the paint on them. “Ah, here it is.” Kuroo beamed, pulling an old stack of papers out of somewhere, and by somewhere he meant somewhere far off stage where he couldn’t see. It looked wrinkled, far worse than anything else he had seen since he was here, and the pages were tinted from a bright white to an old, dingy yellow, like the pages had worn or were very old.

“What is this?” Tsukishima asked a rhetorical question as he took the papers from Kuroo’s hand, doing his best to try to make out the words on the front page. Hamlet? Well it wasn’t that surprised, they seemed to have Hamlet on the brain, since they were doing that play and all. Even with glasses the words looked unreadable, like something off of an eye chart. They looked faded and blurred, almost like they had been written with ink and then that ink was smeared. Why was Kuroo showing him this? He already had Bokuto’s copy he just sat down a few moments ago. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen Kuroo’s actual copy of the script, he assumed he already memorized the lines by this point. Was this Kuroo’s copy?

“That is a script. Well, a modified one.” Kuroo said it with the most straight face he possibly could, almost like he was being condescending, and Tsukishima tried to hold back his laughter as his terrible mood faded. What the heck did ‘modified’ even mean when it came to something like this?

“I know that, I meant, why? I already have Bokuto’s copy, and what do you mean by modified?”

“Hamlet is one of the classics, and you said that you wanted to learn more about acting, right? We use this script from time to time to do warm up exercises since there’s so much material in it. It’s just a coincidence that we happen to be doing this play this time too.”

“And?” Tsukishima raised an eyebrow, but he knew very well where this was going, and there was no way in hell that he was doing any kind of theatre exercises with Kuroo, the only thing he even knew about this play was the famous ‘to be or not to be’ speech with the skull. What was Kuroo planning? And what kind of theatre exercises were they planning on doing anyway? The trust fall exercise?

“Don’t look so agitated, no one’s here besides me, and I’m not going to judge you, Tsukki.” He smirked, and Tsukishima was about to question why he had add on his name to the end of his sentence like that, but that gaze he was giving him stopped him. It was that same amused look on his face Tsukishima saw just a moment ago, one that told him he was enjoying this

“That’s not the problem.” Tsukishima didn’t mean to say that, it just sort of slipped out. He wasn’t one for making a big scene in front of people, he wasn’t one for drawing attention to himself, he wasn’t one for projecting his voice, he wasn’t one for doing any of this, but for some reason that wasn’t what he had a problem with.

It was because it was Kuroo, he didn’t want to do this in front of him, he didn’t want to show him his vulnerable side once again. That was the thing about acting, it required you to fully embody a character and throw away any shred of yourself, it was something that Tsukishima knew he couldn’t do. He never tried to do something like this before, but he already knew he would fail at it.

“Then what is the problem, Tsukki?” Kuroo pried, a certain glint in his eyes, and Tsukishima knew he was provoking him, there was no way around that, all he could do was listen to the almost cocky attitude in his voice as he spoke. “Look, let’s do something simple, okay? Let’s start with doing what we just did, Act two scene one, You’ll read for Lord Polonius and I’ll read for Reynaldo. Unless you, you know, you would rather leave right now?” He had a little chuckle in his voice, and Tsukishima knew damn well what he was doing, and he had no choice but to comply.

“Fine.” As if it was a challenge, Tsukishima slightly tilted his head to the side, flipping the script and opening up to that page. He wasn’t sure how to go about reading this seriously, since previously he was just reading the words on the page, but he began reading it nonetheless.

“Give him this money and those notes, Reynaldo.”

He hated the sound of his voice as he tried to fake a serious tone, it was like he suddenly became so self-conscious, and he wasn’t even sure he knew what was going on in this scene, but he assumed it was something along the lines of his character being a rich royal, and Kuroo’s character being his servant or something. Maybe when all this is over he should actually read some plays.

“I will, my lord.”

Kuroo smiled, an almost chipper tone as he nodded his head and stuck his hands behind his back.

“You shall do marvelous wisely, good Reynaldo, before you visit him, to make inquire of his behavior.”

Tsukishima could feel the tone in his voice decreasing back to his normal, disinterested tone the longer he went on, and for some reason his mind couldn’t even comprehend the meaning behind the words he was speaking. That was the thing about Shakespeare, the plays themselves might be perfectly fine, but the language is what kills it, it’s why most people don’t do theatre.

He was sure that Kuroo could understand how little effort Tsukishima was putting forth right now, he wasn’t acting, he was just merely reading lines on a paper, but he still continued. It was like he was giving Tsukishima time to adjust to it. You can’t throw someone a script who’s never acted before and expect them to fully get into it on the first try.

“My lord, I did intend it.”

He still smiled, keeping that same attitude, and right now Tsukishima was understanding why he picked this play and this scene.

Kuroo was testing him, pushing him to his limits, but it wasn’t just that, he wanted to see just how far Tsukishima could push himself. Tsukishima never tried to do anything before outside of studying, this was a new experience for him, and he didn’t know how to go about it at all.

But it wasn’t so much that it was just a new experience, Kuroo was testing him in other ways. What he didn’t mention was that for this scene the character Kuroo was playing had very little dialogue, one line at a time, while Tsukishima’s on the other hand was speaking more like paragraphs at a time. Was this really fair? Well, it was Kuroo he was talking about, he still didn’t know him that well, but he seemed like the bad boy, biker type who liked to provoke people, but somehow had a soft side. He was good at pushing people, and that showed both on stage and off. It was like Kuroo was trying to push him, he wanted to see how far he could get Tsukishima to go, he wanted to see that vulnerable side of him that he kept guarded up so much.

Tsukishima knew he didn’t have another choice but to continue, so that’s exactly what he did, adjusting his eyes so he could read the words in the next paragraph. Seriously, he had read text books with less words than this.

“Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir,  
Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;  
And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,  
What company, at what- Kuroo! I can’t do this.”

It was like he was at the breaking point, and they just started. Maybe he was just really flustered or something, but Tsukishima felt like he couldn’t understand a word that was going on here, to the point of where he was feeling frustrated. Maybe it would have been better for them to read from a more modern play, Hamilton is still popular, right? But then again, that isn’t so much modern as it is popular, he may still have the same problem.

Kuroo laughed, taking a step closer to Tsukishima as he tried to give him some advice. Tsukishima could hear the sound of his voice in amusement as he tried not to focus on anything else.

“Now, now, don’t get upset. You’re just not thinking before you speak and embodying the character. You’re supposed to be a Lord and I’m your servant, remember? Try reading the words but looking at me when you speak, read them slowly and calmly, see if that helps. Oh, and try to annunciate your words clearly, don’t forget, you’re a Lord, not a college student.”

“Alright, fine.” Tsukishima sighed, still sounded frustrated, bringing up the paper that he had let fall down to his side. He didn’t know if he should start at the top or what, but for the sake of making this easier, he started right where he left off. He figured if Kuroo wanted him to start completely over, he would tell him.

He took a deep breath and read over the words slowly, maybe the problem was that he was trying to rush through this, well, it wasn’t like he had no reason to take Kuroo’s advice, so he would keep going. If they kept doing this and it got too late, he could always fake exhaustion and go home.   

“What company, at what expense; and finding  
By this encompassment and drift of question  
That they do know my son, come you more nearer  
Than your particular demands will touch it:  
Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him;  
As thus, 'I know his father and his friends,  
And in part him: ' do you mark this, Reynaldo?”

Tsukishima wasn’t sure what it was inside of him that clicked, but he locked eyes with Kuroo, maybe it was just the way that he took his advice. There was almost a stern tone in his voice, like Tsukishima was showing emotion, and that look Kuroo was still giving him was like he was pushing him, observing him, and like he was pleased. Was Tsukishima actually doing something convincing?

“Ay, very well, my lord.”

Kuroo didn’t say much, again, but he didn’t have to, Tsukishima could easily pick up on that little look in his eye. That look that somehow made it look like he was nodding, or telling Tsukishima that he did a good job. Tsukishima never thought he needed someone else’s approval to do anything in his life, but the way Kuroo looked at him almost made him reconsider. Was satisfaction supposed to feel this good?

Again, he had no choice other than to continue, and somehow he had just now become aware of how harsh these lights really felt when you stood under them for a long period of time. He could feel his eyes get easily irritated, and feel a harsh shadow look down upon him. And he thought for a moment how could actors even see when walking up here? But he knew Kuroo wouldn’t want him to stop now, so he continued.

“And in part him; but' you may say 'not well:  
But, if't be he I mean, he's very wild;  
Addicted so and so:' and there put on him  
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank  
As may dishonour him; take heed of that;  
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips  
As are companions noted and most known  
To youth and liberty.”

Tsukishima tried to remain at that same level he was just at a moment ago, letting his eyes drift down to the page and then look up at Kuroo. It was hard work, and Tsukishima had to admire actors for being able to do this. But he still did it. Reading and then speaking, knowing what the next few words he was going to say were going to be, and then being able to say them, pretending you were actually someone important, it was difficult. But he still couldn’t say that he hated it.

Kuroo began to speak, Tsukishima could see his mouth start to move open, and in his mind he was already reading the next part he was supposed to say, but as if someone had just cut the lights on them, they were interrupted by the sound of clapping.

Strange. A few moments ago, Tsukishima would have loved to stop doing this, but now he was almost disappointed, like he had more to say, he wanted to say more, he wanted to do more, he wanted to continue doing this with Kuroo.

“That was quite impressive, Tsukishima.” Suga’s soft voice spoke as he entered, him walking from the back of the room all the way to where the audience was, and he stepped in perfect rhythm to his claps, clapping in tune with each new step he took until he made his way up on the stage.

It was a long walk, and it took him several steps to get up there where they were. As each second passed, Tsukishima was starting to get the impending doom feeling in the pit of his stomach, one that told him he was about to regret doing this, and that he wasn’t going to like what Suga had to say.

“We thought you headed home, Suga.” Kuroo said with an almost embarrassed look on his face. It was strange to think he was the embarrassed one right now.

Tsukishima never thought of it until now, but could they get scolded for staying this late? He never noticed it before, but every night Suga was always the last one to leave. He knew that Suga and Akaashi were the only ones who had keys to this place, so were they in trouble?

“I was, but then Daichi texted me and told me he left something up in the sound booth, so I came back. Were you guys practicing? I didn’t know you could act, Tsukishima.”

“It was something like that, but I’ve never done this before, Kuroo just kind of roped me into it.” That was the nicest way he could put it. He still felt awkward about all of this, but admitting it was another story.

Tsukishima only did some line reading, and he knew Suga was well aware of that, he was the one who told him to do it in the first place, so why did he have a look on his face like he was plotting something?

“Well, you didn’t say no to Kuroo so that must mean something.” Suga laughed and Tsukishima couldn’t tell what he meant by that, was he hinting at something, or was he just that friendly? Suga was one of those people that was always hard to read.

Tsukishima didn’t even bother to look at Kuroo right now, out of fear of what kind of expression he would have on his face, but he could tell he was smirking, he didn’t have to look at him to know that.

“Anyway.” He continued, almost like he wasn’t giving Tsukishima the chance to figure him out, he was sort of scary like that. Suga was the only one who could get just about everyone in line without yelling. “I came back here to get Daichi’s flash drive, but then I got a phone call and saw you two practicing, and I’ve made up my mind about something.”

“About what?” Tsukishima asked, though he knew he was going to tell him in the next few seconds. Suga wasn’t exactly the kind of person for cliff hangers. But he was starting to get the feeling in his stomach that he wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. Was running out the door and leaving now an option?

His words were cold, like he wasn’t giving him the chance to even make a choice in this situation, almost like it was something that Tsukishima wouldn’t want to refuse, and he could have sworn the hair on the back of his neck stood up when he heard him speak.

His tone was also cold, which didn’t make it any better. “Tsukishima, you’re going to join the play.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I thought this chapter was going to be a shorter one, but that didn't happen. haha. This was the first chapter I wrote for this that I was kind of 'meh' on, I don't know, I always worry that I'm not doing enough when it comes to these longer fics. But that aside, this starts the first of what will probably be a few cliffhangers in this story, I'm terrible, I'm sorry. I've also been working on a timeline for this story, and I think they'll probably be about 10 chapters to it, and one of those chapters is going to be sexual, so look forward to that, I guess, haha. Next chapter we will see what Suga means, and then maybe some fluff, I've got an idea for next chapter and I'm actually pretty excited for it.


	5. Food & Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima finds out what it is exactly that Suga has planned for him in regards to the play. Later, Kuroo cooks something for Tsukishima back to his dorm, and Tsukishima tells him something about himself that very few people know.

“Uh… what?” Tsukishima took a step back, stepping away from what felt like a crowded area of the stage. There were only the three of them there, but somehow, he was getting the vague sense of feeling claustrophobic, like they were pressuring him into something. Then again, maybe it was just because of the way their eyes were looking at him. Nevertheless, he felt uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry, Suga. I thought you just said you wanted me to be in the play.” Tsukishima almost laughed, he was well aware of how his mind had been playing tricks on him recently, it started pretty much since he first arrived here, and that whole day with accidentally calling Kuroo ‘gorgeous’, it wouldn’t be any surprise if he was hearing things any differently too.

Suga paused for a moment, smiling and then letting a small chuckle escape him, he had an expression on his face that said he was expecting that reaction, which somehow concerned Tsukishima more. “No, no, you heard me right. Although, saying you’d actually be in the play may be a bit of a stretch. Truth be told, we’re short on members and this isn’t exactly the kind of place that gets a lot of people willing to volunteer or work here, I’m sure someone as smart as you is already painfully aware of that, Tsukishima.”

“What are you getting at-“

“All I’m saying is I want you to be an understudy, you wouldn’t have to be onstage, at least not yet. Just in the worst-case scenario, it’s good to have a backup. You wouldn’t have to do anything, just after you finish doing hair and makeup stay backstage and watch the actors perform, you’ll also have to be fitted for a costume, but it shouldn’t be any trouble. Of course, we still have a lot of our regulars, like Oikawa and Kuroo, but if the worst thing happens, we’ll need another fill in for one of the main characters.”

“But why me? Wouldn’t someone who’s been here longer and had a lot more experience be better suited for something like this?” Somehow Tsukishima couldn’t quite say the words that he wanted to say right now, which were ‘no’, even if it was just a ‘what if’ situation, the thought of going up onstage in front of people was a big no-go for him, no matter what type of scenario it was. But instead, he was left with just asking questions. What was going on here?

It wasn’t that Tsukishima didn’t want to do this, well that was a lie, it was that he didn’t want to do this. He was always a reserved person, someone who didn’t think he really stuck out much. He never did plays, he would never sing when friends would invite him to go out to karaoke, he even wouldn’t answer questions in class unless he was specifically called upon. So why, why did the ever so quiet and reserved Tsukishima get himself into a situation where he was now going to be the center of attention? Had he been cursed? Was this some sort of punishment for something? Or was this just a terrible string of coincidences? Nevertheless, he was now starting to regret taking this job.

Suga had a smirk on his face, and Tsukishima couldn’t decide what kind of expression he was making right now, but it felt like he was purposely edging him on, it almost felt like there were two Kuroo’s in the room right now. Though speaking of Kuroo, he had remained surprisingly quiet ever since Suga arrived here, and Tsukishima found it incredibly hard to believe that he didn’t have anything to say. It seemed like he almost jumped at the chance to make Tsukishima feel embarrassed when it was only the two of them, and Tsukishima couldn’t help but feel on guard now with the added silence. Normally he would have expected someone like Kuroo to make some kind of sly comment right now.

“Don’t worry about it.” Suga had a reassuring tone in his voice as he looked directly at Tsukishima. “It’s still a few months away, and it’s not for certain whether we’ll need you or not, it’s just better to be safe than sorry, right? Plus, with what I just saw with you and Kuroo, it looks like he’s quite the good teacher…”

“You think?” Kuroo finally included himself in on this conversation, grinning, like he enjoyed the praise that Suga just gave him.

“Definitely.” Suga turned to Kuroo, his eyes slightly shut and a bright smile on his face. “Keep working with him…” Suga’s sentence trailed off, like he was trying to think of the correct words to say right now, probably realizing how delicate Tsukishima’s reaction was when it came to something like this. “Oh, well look at the time.” He looked down, examining a black watch that was placed on his wrist, and Tsukishima thought for a moment he saw Daichi’s name written down on it in a small white font. “We’ll continue this discussion some other time, it may be the weekend, but we still don’t want to stay here too late. Make sure he gets home safely, Kuroo.”

“Now just wait a minut-“ Tsukishima still didn’t know what to make of this entire conversation, but he would be damned if he let Suga just walk away like that.

Was this a dream? It had to be a dream, he pretty much convinced himself it was a dream by this point, that was the only solution for something like this. Was no one going to ask him if he wanted to do this or not? What was this play actually about anyway? And what part would he be playing? What would he have to wear, and would he be kissing someone? No, that wasn’t what was important here, what was important was that they pretty much just forced him into it. And what was with that thing he just said now, why should Kuroo make sure he gets home safely. Sure, he had been walking or taking him home at least every other day since he arrived here, but for Suga to say such a thing like that. What was really going on?

It wasn’t like Tsukishima had any chance of getting Suga’s attention, by the time his mind fully registered a proper retort, he could see Suga getting smaller and smaller in his vision, making his way to the back of the room not hearing a word he said, or acting like he couldn’t hear a word he said.

Tsukishima was always good at reading people, and right now he could tell that Suga was faking, leaving the conversation right then and there on purpose. Was he planning something? It looked like right before he opened the door to exit the auditorium that he turned his head ever so slightly, revealing a subtle smirk spread on his face. And if Tsukishima wasn’t already flustered from the previous conversation, he might have done something about it. The keyword their being ‘might’, because maybe he might have actually wanted to do some ‘acting’ with Kuroo again.

“I’m not doing it.” Somehow knowing he needed a way to calm himself down before he did anything rash. Tsukishima looked down at the floor, shrugging his shoulders and walking his way past Kuroo to the backstage area. They didn’t honestly expect him to say yes to something like this, did they? Even if they realistically asked anyone about it, they would probably say no, no, they would have said no, there was no ‘probably’ about it.

“Hm?” Kuroo made a noise that sounded half surprised and half interested as he followed him. Today really had been a troublesome day. “Why not, Tsukki?” He could feel him peering over his shoulders and looking down at him, given the disinterred slouching pose Tsukishima was in right now, it made Kuroo look taller than him if they stood side by side, which somehow didn’t help this situation at all.

“What do you mean ‘why not’? You can’t honestly expect me to do something like this, I was hired to do makeup and hair, not to sing and dance-“

“Now, now, don’t be so hasty, Tsukki. No one’s making you sing and dance, it’s just a little acting, besides, the way I see it, you seemed pretty good at it.” Was he trying to make Tsukishima feel better or provoke him? It was kind of hard to tell the difference between the two when it came to Kuroo. He was the only person Tsukishima couldn’t read, and it always felt like his actions had some kind of hidden intent. Though, that still didn’t make him any less annoyed.

“Then please get your eyes checked.” Tsukishima reached down to grab the water bottle he always brought with him. Normally he would just keep it in his school bag he would bring with him, but when he worked backstage he always had it close by. It had a moon logo on the side of the bottle, making it easily obvious that it belonged to him. He thought that the cooling taste might actually keep him calm down in a situation like this, since he could still feel his brain running a hundred miles a minute, and that annoyed look on his face had no intention of faltering.

“Besides, there’s no way that I- don’t stand so close.” Tsukishima wasn’t sure what kind of face he expected to be met with when he turned around, one that was unnecessary and probably trying to coax him into doing this. But instead he was met with _his_ face, a face that was so close he didn’t even have time to register what kind of expression he was making, it almost felt as if he couldn’t breathe.

When you think about it, this whole situation was alarming, everything about it was. What was it exactly that just made him so eager to help Kuroo practice to begin with? Sure, it was an easy thing for him to do most of the time, but there’s a fine line between reading lines and doing what he just did. He had already come to terms in his mind that he thought Kuroo was attractive, he knew that since the day he arrived here, but why was it that this guy could convince him to do just about anything? Was it possible that he liked him? Well, if he’s asking a question like that, then it probably means he already knows the answer. But right now, he wouldn’t be swayed into doing something like this so easily. This was very different than just reading lined with an actor after all. He wasn’t doing it, and that was that.

As if he was trying to shove him away, Tsukishima waited for Kuroo’s response as he placed his hands on his shoulders. The thin, almost cloth-like material of his shirt made it feel like he was directly touching his skin. It was soft, and he knew already his face was turning a bright flustered shade of red. Kuroo’s gaze wasn’t stopping either, and he was starting to wonder what kind of position he had gotten himself into, but he knew he needed to think over his next choice of words carefully.

It wasn’t so much thinking as it was a reaction, it seemed like only a few moments later the two of them were met with the most loud sound he had heard all day, his stomach. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t had much to eat all day, he wasn’t really much for food. It wasn’t that he didn’t like food, it’s just that he had a tendency to not eat very much, and for good reason. Since he arrived here, he never really did eat anywhere outside of the dorm room and the school lunch hall. If he even remembered to bring a snack with him when he worked here on the weekends, he was lucky.

“Are you hungry?” Kuroo said the most obvious thing ever as Tsukishima lowered his arms and forced himself to turn his head to that side.

He thought about being sarcastic, but decided that was a bit too harsh right now.

“I’m fine, I just didn’t eat much today. I should be going back to the dorms, I’ll probably eat something there.” He wasn’t sure why he was being so honest right now, he didn’t need to tell Kuroo what he was doing, but he still did so anyways. What was most alarming was that the tone in his voice almost sounded like he was trying to worry him, like he was reassuring Kuroo that he would eat. Well, he had heard countless worries from his friends and family over the years when he didn’t eat, so maybe he just didn’t want Kuroo to worry like they did.

“I’ll go with you.” Kuroo snapped up, as if he just realized this was a good opportunity for something.

“What?” Tsukishima turned his head, looking at him with that same puzzled expression, he had pretty much given up on trying to read him by this point.

“It’s getting late, so why don’t we have dinner together? I can cook you something in your dorm room, it’s better than half of the fast food garbage they serve around here anyways.” Was this escalating quickly? Tsukishima wasn’t quite sure, but he knew back at the dorm he would just eat another bowl of instant ramen, and somehow the thought of eating something other than the same food everyday was slightly inviting.

Maybe he was just growing softer, or maybe he just genuinely wanted to spend more time with Kuroo, he did enjoy his company and liked the feeling of when they were close. Plus, it was getting later and Tsukishima couldn’t come up with an argument in his head to deny him right now. It was just dinner, right? Would that be okay? There weren’t any rules against it, but could eating something someone else made him be okay? Back home all he did was eat the schools’ food and sometimes his mother’s cooking when he was visiting home, this would be the first time he ate something other than that. Actually, it would probably be the first time someone who wasn’t related to him made something for him.

It had been a phrase he said many times since he started working here, it almost felt by now that it was his own way of just saying ‘I give in’, but he let the word flow off of his tongue one more time as he looked over at Kuroo, who somehow still had a jeering grin on his face.

“Okay.”

 

 

 

“So, this is where you live? Not bad. I wasn’t expecting you to be so clean, Tsukki.” Kuroo almost had a homely feeling about him as the two of them stepped inside the door to his room from the balcony, slowly sliding the screen door and locking it carefully, the both of them trying to be aware of how much noise they were making.

It hadn’t been that long since he moved in here, but Tsukishima still felt his room was lacking any sort of ‘homely’ elements. He had his bed that greeted you on the left when you first came in (from the balcony), it was as clean as ever, perfectly made and with a dinosaur plush on it that Yamaguchi mailed over. Across from that was his desk, with his laptop, neatly stacked books, and homework assignments. The closet door to the wall next to that was slightly open, letting Kuroo see the perfectly hanged rows of clothes and shoes inside of them. He had a laundry basket sitting in front of them, where he would go to the laundromat at the bottom floor of this place on the weekends. Other than the basic necessities though, he didn’t really have many pictures or belongings to decorate the room.

The kitchen was the immediate area that Kuroo walked over to, as expected. It was just as clean as everywhere else, with packs of ramen lining the cabinets, and a few dirty dishes in the sink. There was also a bag of take out from one of the local nearby restaurants sticking out of the trash can. And yet somehow, this place still smelt like the lavender air freshener Tsukishima had plugged into the wall. It was a gift from his brother, it came with a note attached that reminded him not to forget to do his laundry. Admittedly he got annoyed with it at first, It was almost like he was a third parent, but he couldn’t help but be thankful for the smell when he returned home at night. It was always refreshing.

Kuroo immediately starting rummaging through his cabinets and his refrigerator, it was like he was taking inventory how he paused and counted over everything. Tsukishima forced himself to keep a distance from him as he watched. He had no idea what he was doing, but he didn’t want to get in his way, let alone he was pretty sure he didn’t have enough of anything to make any real food. He had said it before, but his cooking skills weren’t anything notable. So just what exactly was he planning on making? Even Tsukishima couldn’t think of anything as he stood there and watched him in puzzlement.

“You don’t really have much, Tsukki.” Kuroo said as he almost laughed. He didn’t feel awkward having Kuroo here, but he still felt this weird tension, maybe it was just uneasy bringing someone over to your room when it looks this bland and boring. Though, he still couldn’t bring himself to retort with anything, so he couldn’t complain too much.

“Oh, idea!” Kuroo beamed up, reaching into the pocket of his pants like he just remembered something. Tsukishima watched him with that same curious look on his face as he pulled out his phone. Just what was he planning?

He didn’t even bother to ask him what he was doing, but Kuroo must have sensed his curiosity and smiled over at him, waving his hair out of his face for a few seconds as his thumb dialed a number.

His bangs fell back in front of his face only a few seconds later, and Tsukishima did his best to try to listen in on what was being said on the other line. Did this count as ease dropping? Well, Kuroo was doing whatever he was doing in front of him, so it didn’t technically count.

Whatever minor feelings of stress and anxiety that were bothering him some short time ago seemed to fade away, maybe he just forgot about them, or maybe the rational part of his brain was telling him that whatever ‘performing’ he had to do was months down the road, and he could probably find a way to avoid it. So, he didn’t think he should worry too much over it, it wasn’t in his job description and dwelling on it really wouldn’t do much. Tsukishima was smart enough to realize something like that about everything. He did his best to throw those thoughts from his mind, because right now, all he could think about was Kuroo, and his curiosity towards him.

“Hey, you awake.” Kuroo had a slight teasing tone in his voice as he spoke to whomever he was talking to. Tsukishima had a hard time making out the voice on the other end of the line, but he could tell one thing, the person on the other end sounded annoyed, probably from being called so late at night. He couldn’t blame him, and Tsukishima just kept on listening to Kuroo, in hopes for some context.

“Okay, listen.” Kuroo laughed, it almost seemed like he was calling in a favor, but something about it made it seem like he had an overly fake nice tone in his voice. It was hard to tell if he was use some bad acting right now on purpose. “I’m in Tsukki’s room with him right now, and I was wondering if you could be so kind as to put down your video games and let us have access to the main refrigerator.”

“What?” There was a slight pause before Kuroo spoke again, and Tsukishima could hear some feint groans coming from the other end of the phone, it took him a moment, but he finally figured out who he was talking to, it was Kenma.

The ‘Lazy RA’ as he was known by the rest of the students in the dorm, he was Kuroo’s best friend and the only one who seemed to be up at this hour. One time Tsukishima accidentally left his keys in his room when he went to work, and Kenma had to let him back in when he returned. That was the only interaction that the two of them had had, but that didn’t stop Kenma from saying ‘you’re Tsukki? Kuroo told me about you’ as he was helping him out.

Hearing something like that was a surprise to Tsukishima, but it only made sense that Kuroo would talk about him. He didn’t have a problem with it, if anything it made him curious how someone as quiet and reserved as Kenma could be friends with someone as loud as Kuroo, especially considering Kenma didn’t seem to have an interest in anything other than his games. Even when they had their monthly dorm meetings, Kenma was always just off in a corner playing games, it was almost funny.

“Because I know you’re awake and I can hear the beeping of whatever you’re playing. Come on, can’t you do your best friend a favor? If you do I’ll buy you whatever DLC you want.” There was a slight pause again as Tsukishima zoned back into Kuroo’s phone conversation, he had a provoking grin on his face as he appeared to be bribing Kenma for something. Was this just to get more food? Tsukishima didn’t want to say it, but why was Kuroo going to so much trouble just to cook him something? Surely, there had to be some nearby store opened at this hour that they could just go t for food.

“Great, you’re the best, we’ll be waiting.” Kuroo smiled, hanging up his phone and looking directly back at Tsukishima. “That was Kenma, he’s delivering us some leftover ingredients from the RA fridge downstairs.”

“Okay.” Tsukishima didn’t consider himself to be a negative person, but a lot of times when he said something, it just so happened to sound like something more on the negative side of things. Right now, he wanted to ask Kuroo why he was going through this much trouble, but knew it would only be met with ‘because you need to eat, Tsukki’, or him insisting that it’s not healthy to just eat ramen every day. So, he forced himself not to even bother with it.

Instead he decided he needed to be curious again. Plus, it wasn’t like he could come up with any other conversation topics as it was, he had said it before but Tsukishima really wasn’t the sociable type.

“What are you making?” Tsukishima asked as he tried to keep the tone in his voice down, he may not have showed it, but Tsukishima was a lot more than just happy to have Kuroo here right now.

“Why, I’m so glad you asked, Tsukki.” Kuroo leered, almost too pleased as he leaned over the kitchen counter and smiled at him. “I was thinking something with meat, you need to eat more.”

“Is that all?” That was a line Tsukishima had heard all too much throughout his life. He didn’t have anything against it, but when all of your friends and family are pressuring to ‘eat more meat’ because it will ‘help you grow’, it doesn’t exactly make it the most eager thing for Tsukishima to want. Well, that and he wasn’t the biggest fan of meat in general.

“Don’t look so sad.” Kuroo teased, resting his elbows on the counter as he slouched over. “I’m making you my extraordinary shakes for dessert, they’re my specialty when it comes to baking. Now, would you prefer chocolate or strawberry?”

“Um… that’s…” This conversation took an unexpected turn, and it left Tsukishima doing something that he didn’t want to do, reveal information about himself.

When it came down to it, him and Kuroo still didn’t know a lot about each other. Kuroo was the typical punk person, with the tattoos and bike to match, he had some kind on injury, but other than that the amount of things he could list about him was pretty vague. The same could probably be said about him, Kuroo didn’t know anything about him either. Kind of ironic if you think about how they had already kissed by this point, and how Kuroo was already over at his place cooking for him. It almost made Tsukishima laugh at how ironic it was.

“Hm? Something wrong?” Kuroo instantly picked up on Tsukishima’s hesitancy. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell Kuroo what was wrong, it was just that he didn’t want to bring himself closer to another person, especially knowing he only had less than three-fourths of the year left. There was no point in getting close and telling anyone this thing in his mind.

The ‘thing’ he was not wanting to tell him was the real reason why he didn’t eat much. It was really only something that his family and Yamaguchi knew, mainly because he didn’t have a need to tell anyone else around him. It wouldn’t cause any kind of inconvenience for anyone, but he was still fine with not telling them, it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to getting all of the ‘why aren’t eating more’ questions by this point. And that thing was that he was allergic, more specifically, he had food allergies.

It would have probably been an obvious solution if people had been paying attention to how on guard he was while eating. He would always examine his food very thoroughly and make sure he checked the ingredients before eating. Some people probably thought he was just a picky eater and being pretentious, but he just didn’t want to get sick.

The source of this ‘food allergy’ revolved mostly around meat, which made it next to impossible to eat half of the food the school served during lunch when he was growing up. He had been this way ever since he was young, so much so that he first discovered it when he was about eight while eating lunch at school, it only took him a few hours before he was feeling so nauseous with terrible stomach pain that he had to be sent home. His mother learned of alternate ways to cook lunch and dinner when he was home, but sometimes eating meat still couldn’t be avoided, especially when on a school trip or during a cookout.

Except other than having to be careful of what he eats, and not being able to eat certain foods, the only time this posed any kind of problem was right now, when someone was cooking something for him. Normally it shouldn’t be such a big deal to tell someone something like this, but for Tsukishima, he was having a hard time admitting it, maybe it was because something like this felt intimate and private, something that wasn’t so easy sharing with other people, something that Tsukishima didn’t want to share with other people. Or maybe there was another reason behind it. But he felt that one thing was for sure, unlike anybody else, he wanted to tell Kuroo.

“Kuroo, I…” It wasn’t that big of a deal, but still, even when Tsukishima opened his mouth to speak, he was interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door. The worst possible timing.

“Oh, that must be Kenma.” Kuroo smirked, easily forgetting whatever Tsukishima was about to say, and for the moment he thought that maybe that was a good thing. Tsukishima really wasn’t one for sharing stuff like this. Maybe he just didn’t need to tell Kuroo this bit of information about him, it wasn’t like this would be the first time he forced down meat before when he knew he shouldn’t. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t manage, but still, he still wanted to tell him.

Tsukishima walked and stood behind Kuroo as he opened the door, and sure enough there was Kenma, holding a bag of food in it with one hand, and his portable game in his other. He had noticeable bags under his eyes, most likely from staying up all night playing his game.

Calling him annoyed probably wasn’t the right word to describe him, he looked curious, like he was observing him, and everything else around the room, which somehow put Tsukishima on edge. From what he knew about him, Kenma wasn’t one for making jokes, but he had a certain look in his eyes that almost looked like he was questioning them. It probably did seem a little odd. Kuroo wasn’t a student anymore, and yet here he was in Tsukishima’s room this late at night. Maybe Tsukishima was really dense or didn’t think anything of it, but why did Kuroo come here? Was it just to make sure he got something to eat? It was also alarming that he let him come here so easily, but for what reason?

“Here. Go home, Kuroo.” Kenma all but tossed the bag at Kuroo, forcing him to catch it as he turned his back to the two of them. He wasn’t being cold necessarily, but you could tell that the two of them had a good friendship. Tsukishima didn’t think Kenma would have normally said anything at all if someone else had asked him to do this.

“What? You haven’t seen me in a month and that’s all you have to say?” Kuroo pried, sticking his head into the hallway. “How are things going with Hinata, by the way? You two still together?”

Tsukishima wasn’t sure what was going on, but he was getting the feeling ‘Hinata’ was Kenma’s boyfriend, he had a certain look in his eyes that seemed to light up when Kuroo mentioned him. It was subtle, but it was fairly obvious when you looked at him.

“Things are going fine.” Kenma glanced over to the side, shrugging his shoulders, that same annoyed expression again, and for once Tsukishima was certain he heard a voice that sounded more disinterested than his own. “Go home before you cause trouble.” It was hard to tell if Kenma sounded concerned or not with the way he spoke, but Tsukishima saw Kenma look directly at him. “And goodnight, Tsukishima.”

“Cause trouble?” Tsukishima felt himself asking as the sight of Kenma disappeared down the hallway, with Kuroo closing the door.

“Ah, he was just teasing.” Kuroo smirked, placing the sack down on the counter. “Though having some guy hang out around here with a motorcycle doesn’t exactly do the most to reassure people. He probably just doesn’t want to do anymore work. He’s the laziest person alive, y’know?” Kuroo joked again, almost laughing, and Tsukishima couldn’t help but feel the tension at ease. “Hinata’s his boyfriend by the way, they’ve been dating for about two years now.” Kuroo lifted his head up and looked at Tsukishima as he started pulling things out of the sack. It was almost like he could sense the curiosity on his face.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“No, but the look was all over your face.” Kuroo almost chuckled. Was he really that obvious of a person to read? Tsukishima didn’t think so, but then again, to someone else maybe he was.

He watched Kuroo pull ingredient after ingredient out of the bag, slowly placing them on the counter. He wasn’t a culinary expert by any means, so he couldn’t even begin to describe what he was pulling out, most of it just looked like bottles or food that was wrapped up in foil or in some kind of plastic bag.

Kuroo reached to turn on the stove, grabbing one of the generic pots Tsukishima had in his cabinets, it was another one of those gifts from his brother. He felt almost amused as he watched Kuroo place the pot on the stove and sort the ingredients from the sack. Normally something like this would have fine, if it wasn’t for a thought to cross his mind. Was he being too quiet?

Quiet might not have been the right word for it, he wasn’t much of a talker, but ever since he met Kuroo it was like he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He was so curious about him and his life, that every time the two of them were alone like this, he couldn’t help but ask him anything and everything. Maybe it was just because he was so different from him. But even now he wanted to ask him about what he was like in college, what he majored in, and how he met Kenma. He knew if he didn’t say something soon it would bring down the mood, but still, he still couldn’t bring himself to speak. It felt like some unseen force was holding his mouth sealed tight. But there was still an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction in him as he watched him. The way his hair seemed to move with his head as he moved from side to side in the kitchen, the way he would slightly turn his head back and smile at him, and the way he would almost hum as he cooked. It was amusing, and Tsukishima couldn’t stop thinking it was amusing.

“Um.. Kuroo?” Was all he was able to whisper out as he clenched his fists to his side, he wasn’t angry, just agitated. Agitated that his mind wouldn’t let him relax right now, it was like there was some force that was scratching at the inside of his brain, telling him that he needed to tell Kuroo about his food allergy, or he wouldn’t be able to fully relax. But it wasn’t just that he needed to tell him or things would get problematic soon, it was that he wanted to tell him, he wanted to let Kuroo know this detail about his life, he needed to tell him.

“Hm? Something wrong, Tsukki?” It felt like Kuroo almost repeated himself as he turned fully around, looking at Tsukishima with that same almost curious expression in his eyes.

“Listen, about the food-“

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I don’t mind cooking.”

As expected, Kuroo wasn’t entirely getting what Tsukishima was trying to say. And he could tell from the reassuring look on his face that Kuroo probably thought Tsukishima just didn’t want to inconvenience him, which wasn’t a lie, but there was more to it than that. He wasn’t going to make this easy. It was time for Tsukishima to actually be bold in what he said for once. He may have been curious about Kuroo, but this was the first time with anyone (other than Yamaguchi) that he would give out personal information like this. He hated it, but somehow a part of him didn’t seem to mind since it was Kuroo. It wasn’t like he was telling him something terrible, but he still felt so uncertain.

This was somehow embarrassing. Tsukishima turned his head to the side, as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt as if it would serve as a distraction, and there was no doubt his face was bright red as he let the words hesitantly flow off of his tongue.

“No, it’s not that. Um.. Kuroo, about the food…”

“Hm? What is it, Tsukki? Not feeling meat tonight?” Despite his pretty looks and that ‘bad-boy’ façade he had going on, Kuroo was smart. Well, it wasn’t like Tsukishima was hiding that something was wrong. Anyone would have been able to tell something was off with him right about now, even with Tsukishima always trying so hard to conceal his feelings. He had no choice now but to tell him.

“I’m allergic.” He just sort of let it fall from his mouth, without thinking. It wasn’t a big deal, but to him it was, it was the first personal thing he shared about himself in a long time. This had absolutely nothing to do with him being allergic or not allergic, there was always different things you could substitute for meat. It was about telling Kuroo, and wanting him to know this about him, and the embarrassing part was for Tsukishima to admit that.

“Your what?” Kuroo blinked his eyes a few times, a surprised reaction, but one that he sort of expected. It wasn’t a hugely common thing, especially considering Tsukishima was allergic to something like meat instead of dairy, he figured Kuroo had probably never experienced something like this before, and he couldn’t blame him for a reaction like that or if he wanted to leave now. Though, Tsukishima found himself really hoping that Kuroo didn’t want to leave, he couldn’t figure out why but he liked having him here, it almost made something feel like home.

Thinking back on it, the way that Yamaguchi found out about his food allergy was only because his brother just so happened to be home at the time, and let it slip out right before dinner that he couldn’t have the meat that their mother was preparing, so they made him something else. He was pretty sure he got the same reaction from Yamaguchi as Kuroo was giving him now too. Though, slightly different because one was from a little kid and the other from a grown adult. But for some reason, Tsukishima didn’t feel annoyed right now like he did when Yamaguchi found out.

“I have food allergies, I can’t eat most types of meat.” Tsukishima repeated himself, hoping that this didn’t sound like some terrible excuse just to get Kuroo to leave. He seemed like an understanding enough guy, so he wouldn’t think something like that, right? Tsukishima didn’t know why he felt so uncertain and worried right now.

Kuroo continued to stare at him with that same blinking expression. It felt like several seconds went by before Kuroo’s expression changed to one of shock, it was like his brain finally registered what Tsukishima was saying. And he still couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Tsukki, why didn’t you tell me? I would have told Kenma to bring us some other food.” It was almost as if Kuroo changed completely, giving off the sound of a concerned parent, his voice getting higher to the point where it was almost annoying.

That was the thing, Tsukishima still didn’t know why he didn’t tell Kuroo, this could have been the easiest thing to just casually slip out as they were on their way back here. All he had to do was say ‘oh, by the way, you probably shouldn’t cook meat because I’m allergic’. It was literally that simple, but no, Tsukishima just had to go and make things more difficult for no reason at all. He hated how he was like this.

“I don’t really know.” Tsukishima almost felt embarrassed now that it was over, turning his head to the side as Kuroo stood there, his hands on his hips and an almost playful smile on his face. It was almost as if he was laughing and joking around right now.

It wasn’t as if he was laughing, because he was actually laughing. A small chuckle escaped Kuroo’s lips, and Tsukishima didn’t quite know how to react to it.

“You’re so damn amusing, Tsukki, you know that?”

“Huh? What do you mean by ‘amusing’?” Tsukishima was sure he never heard a compliment like that before, was something like that even a compliment? What did amusing even mean? Kuroo was really one of the hardest people to figure out.

Kuroo hummed, almost like he was intrigued by something, closing his eyes for a brief second as he cocked his head to the side. “Just that, you’re amusing. You’re this foreigner who doesn’t talk much and has this air of superiority around him, you’re smart, and not very approachable. But yet somehow you were the one to ask me for my number and kiss me first, and now here you are getting all cute and flustered with your face all red from not telling me something like this. It’s so damn cute.”

“Wait, aren’t you…” Tsukishima didn’t even know how to finish his thought, his mind felt so jumbled right now. What he probably wanted to say was ‘aren’t you misunderstanding something right now?’, but once again the words just wouldn’t come out.

Was that it then? There was something about hearing something like that coming from Kuroo that almost solidified everything for Tsukishima. He was right, outside of working for the theatre, nobody really talked to him. He had heard it all the time from his friends and family back home, that he was often too harsh or too cold, that it would be hard for someone like him to really make it in today’s society. Tsukishima, of course, just dismissed it all, telling himself that they were just worrying over nothing. Though, something about hearing the same thing from Kuroo almost made him feel like he was willing to listen. Maybe it was just because he was hearing it from someone whose opinion he actually cared about, but one thing was for sure, Tsukishima was anything but cute.

“Hey.” Kuroo seemed to pick up on how flabbergasted he was, taking a few steps forward, he had that cool, seductive tone in his voice, and Tsukishima felt like his body froze in place again as he watched him. “Can I kiss you right now?”

If Tsukishima had spent the past several weeks being impulsive, it was now Kuroo’s turn. He had an almost flushed look in his eyes, like he was intoxicated but he hadn’t been drinking anything. Tsukishima wasn’t sure why, but he looked really attractive right now, and he could have sworn he felt his body lean forward as their lips met one more time.

He wasn’t the impulsive one this time, because he was certain Kuroo was the one to initiate it. He was so warm, and he somehow had a smile about him as their lips met. What did this even make them anyway? Well, it was New York, so there was probably a number of people who were in some kind of relationship similar to this one. And Tsukishima wasn’t really looking for an answer right now.

Their lips departed just as quickly as they met, and Tsukishima felt like he saw an expression on Kuroo that said ‘thank you.’ It was only for a split second, but what was that kiss about anyways? Tsukishima couldn’t bring himself to ask, probably out of fear of what that answer would be. It was weird, he wanted to ask Kuroo if he liked him, in _that_ way, but at the same time he didn’t. He wanted both a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ answer at the same time, he wanted to do that again, but he also wanted to avoid Kuroo as much as possible now. What did this make them?

He wasn’t quite sure what the social rules of New York were when it came to dating. Do people ask each other out like he had been used to, or do they just sort of do things like this and it is sort of just implied? Or was this something that only people who are just friends do? Tsukishima figured he would be fine for living in New York for a year, but this, this was something even he wasn’t prepared for.

Once again, Kuroo became impossible to read, but he wasn’t going to speak up, so now Tsukishima would just go along with it. He had that same cool presence around him as he spoke again, instantly changing the subject as if nothing had just happened. He was talking about food again, and somehow that made Tsukishima feel even more confused. What even was their relationship?

“Okay, since we can’t have meat I’ll cook you up some rice, and I’ll make sure to cook around your allergies from now on.”

 

 

 

“You could stay the night, you know?” Tsukishima could hear the exhaustion in his own voice as he leaned his head up against the wall. His dorm room didn’t have enough space for a dining table, so the two of them just ate their late night meal on the floor, both of them sitting side by side as they leaned the back of their heads up against the nearest wall.

“You would actually let me?” Kuroo turned to him, he seemed surprised, and somehow still full of energy.

The two of them kept a reasonable distance from each other as they ate, but that didn’t stop Tsukishima from turning his head and looking over at him every few minutes. He was still trying to figure him out, but all he managed to do was notice how much worse Kuroo’s hair got as the night went on, it was like the tangles in it somehow got more and more visible, and he swore that bedhead of his was getting bigger as more time passed.

“I mean, it’s pretty late as is, plus it’s still the weekend, so…” Tsukishima had no idea where he was going with this. Maybe he just wanted more time with Kuroo, more time to figure him out, more time to possibly build up the confidence to ask him about the kiss, and more time to figure out what their relationship actually was.

It was probably a useless thing that would lead to a dead end, but Tsukishima still couldn’t suppress his curiosity. Wait, what was he doing? Was he getting attached to Kuroo? No, he couldn’t be. That was the one thing Tsukishima swore to himself before he came here, no getting attached to people, he was going to be leaving eventually, and the last thing he wanted was the heartbreak of separation.’

“Actually, that’s probably a bad idea. I can already hear the RA’s making a fuss over it.” Tsukishima instantly corrected himself, changing his thought, and he could hear a hum of disappointment from both himself and Kuroo as he did so. What was it that he wanted anyway?

“You’re probably right.” Kuroo gave a vague smile and walked over into the kitchen, placing his plate in the sink. “Is this goodnight, then? It’s hard to believe it’s already after three in the morning.” Kuroo laughed and Tsukishima stood up with him. He knew that he couldn’t bring himself to say half the things that were on his mind right now, but he also didn’t want to change the mood by acting like he was hiding something, so he would just go along with it.

Kuroo easily slipped his shoes back on as he fiddled with the door that led to the balcony, and Tsukishima could feel his tongue start to move on its own as he prepared to slowly watch him walk away.

“Kuroo, I-“ He had to force himself to stop, he needed to stop, because he didn’t know what he was about to say. He didn’t want to be impulsive right now.

“Hm? What is it, Tsukki?” It was almost completely silent, there was no way Kuroo wouldn’t be able to hear the slightest breath or noise Tsukishima was making right now. And he felt himself get flustered once again because he wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into?

“It’s nothing, sorry, I’m just tired. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He was now starting to be grateful from his decision, he couldn’t handle being alone with Kuroo for more than a few minutes without impulsively saying something, there was no way he could survive spending the night with him, no matter how enticing it sounded. He needed him to leave and he needed to do something about whatever feelings were inside of him right now.

“Tsukki…” Kuroo turned around, moving a step closer to him and planting another one of those soft kisses on his skin, this time on the side of his face, right on his cheek, it almost had a pleasant and reassuring feel to it. “I’ll come by and cook for you next weekend too. Goodnight.”

He didn’t even give him a chance to respond, but that was probably a good thing. Tsukishima’s face was bright red right now, as his hands started to act on his own, reaching down for his phone that was in his pocket. He needed to do something about this, he didn’t know what he felt for Kuroo, but he needed to do something before something like that almost slips out again, he needed to talk to someone.

Tsukishima never did have a lot of friends, but there was at least one person he could rely on, one person who would give him advice, not judge him, and be able to talk some sense into him right now. He needed to talk to Yamaguchi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I've always kind of had this head canon that the real reason Tsukki doesn't eat much is because he has food allergies and just doesn't like telling people he does. I know I'm probably the only one who has this head canon, but I thought it would be nice to have in this story, haha. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.  
> Next chapter everyone's favorite freckled best friend appears, and maybe some more theatre stuff like costumes. This is the halfway point in the story so things are going to start wrapping up soon, and I already have an idea for my next Haikyuu fic so that's exciting. :)


	6. Costumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima goes to a fitting for his costume for the play, and his best friend makes a surprise visit.

“Tsukki! I need you to fix my hair, it fell flat again!”

“Coming, Bokuto!” Tsukishima could hear his voice yell frantically as he rushed from one side of the room to the other.

It was another ‘hair emergency’ as he dubbed them, usually it was something that would only happen with Oikawa. He would always complain when his hair would fall flat from some random accident, usually from trying on costumes or running down the hall to catch up with ‘Iwa-chan’. It was honestly a nuisance since Oikawa’s hair really wasn’t that bad, but he was always a perfectionist, even if one little hair wasn’t curling the way he wanted it to, he would throw a fit and want to start all over. It was just like he was a little kid. He had experienced this type of problem before though, it was almost strange for Bokuto to be the one to call on him like this.

Bokuto spun his hair around and looked at himself in the mirror as Tsukishima loomed behind him, he had this look of hopelessness on his face as he slouched down, almost saddened. It wasn’t like Tsukishima hadn’t dealt with something like this before, but seriously, how on earth did Bokuto do this to his hair?

It was flat, like completely flat, no volume at all, his two signature owl-like spikes were completely gone. He almost looked unrecognizable like this, and Tsukishima found himself trying to flash back to the events of today. He knew that he didn’t do Bokuto’s hair today, but he was certain he saw him in the room earlier. What happened?

He almost felt reluctant as he spoke, hearing the sigh in his voice as he started reaching for the comb and hair spray that were already laying out on his table. “How did this happen?” He could already feel himself regretting his words because Bokuto was such a talker, he knew they would be here all day unless Akaashi or someone else entered the room.

Tsukishima didn’t really have any problems with talking to people. Sure, it wasn’t his favorite thing to do, but it doesn’t matter what kind of person you actually are, if you don’t talk, people just start to assume you’re an unpleasant person all around. Not talking would have been more of a bother than actually talking in a situation like this.

Then again, maybe Tsukishima was just used to it by this point. There was never a doubt that he was probably the only person here who would be okay with just being silent, he was certain everyone knew that about him from day one. It wasn’t so much that he wanted to talk, but that he was used to it. All these weird, theatrical people just started talking to him day in and day out, he couldn’t help but start doing the things they did. What was that saying? That you start to become like the people you hung around, that had to be it. There was no way the normal, quiet Tsukishima would ever talk to people like this in any other circumstances.

And speaking of talking, Bokuto was probably the most chatty, outside of Kuroo, he could talk about anything and everything. More often than not he would always go on and on about Akaashi whenever Tsukishima was doing his hair and makeup for him. And sure, he had never experienced it himself, but somehow now he could actually appreciate someone having a crush like this, but there was something about listening to someone spew out all these things about your boss that made it unbearable. Tsukishima really didn’t need to know about the way ‘Akaashi furrows his eyebrows slightly when he’s mad’, or about how he ‘says ‘Bokuto’ so slowly that it almost sounds seductive’. It was almost to the point of where it was gross, but somehow in a cute way.

“-So this is all thanks to the prop guys.” Tsukishima zoned back in on what Bokuto was saying, he had always considered himself to be a pretty good listener. So, he had gotten pretty good at tuning people out when it came to conversations like this, meaning the general chit-chat conversations, the kind of conversations the models would have with you while he fixed their hair or makeup.

Most of the time, any conversation they would have like this would be meaningless, they would just tell some sort of story as Tsukishima would half pay attention to them, and half focus on their hair and face. Bokuto would always talk about Akaashi and Oikawa would always talk about Iwaizumi. Every so often someone would actually say something interesting that he would tune into, but other than that as long as he did their hair and makeup right nobody cared, well, nobody besides Kuroo.

Tsukishima had said and thought it before, but Kuroo was the king of being chatty, he had no choice but to actually pay attention to him fully when he talked.

Face to face, it was almost like all of their texting conversations were in person now. Kuroo would ask him how his day was, if he had any papers to write or homework to do, how long he was working here today. It was almost annoying, but Tsukishima would still answer him wholeheartedly. And don’t even get him started on the flirting, and that look Kuroo would always give him while they both were looking in the mirror.

It was almost like his hands knew exactly what to do by this point, everyone’s hair and skin had a different feel to it, and a different way they liked their hair and makeup to be done. Some people didn’t like certain types of products and others did, and he had gotten so used to everyone by this point that it was almost like he could put himself on autopilot and do everything without thinking. Then again, maybe he was just used to it.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he now looked in the mirror at Bokuto who had his hair back to normal, in those two perfect owl-like spikes, and that almost saddened look on his face turned to one of satisfaction. The room still reeked of hairspray of course, to the point where it was overpowering, but that still didn’t stop Tsukishima from noticing the two figures standing in the doorway as he began to put the hairspray away.

“Suga and Akaashi, did you come to see me?” Bokuto’s attention snapped up, as if he were a little kid. Tsukishima wasn’t looking at them fully, but he could see their reflections in the mirror, and more so he could see Bokuto dash up from his chair to meet Akaashi face to face. It was clear who he was talking to during this conversation.

Akaashi had that same disinterested look in his eyes, almost like he was trying purposely not to make eye contact with Bokuto. Tsukishima always considered himself to be good at reading people, and he especially wanted to try out reading Akaashi. He didn’t quite know how to explain it, but the way Bokuto talked about him, and the way Bokuto would describe every detail of their interactions didn’t quite seem right. Akaashi said before that he didn’t want to date Bokuto because he didn’t want to date someone he worked with, but if that was the case, then why did it seem like Akaashi was the one to always walk past Bokuto when they were alone, and he was always the one to ask Tsukishima to tell something to Bokuto when he was getting ready to leave. And why was he always coming into the room like this when Bokuto was here, even if he was also with someone else, like how he was with Suga right now, but was this normal? Did Akaashi actually like Bokuto back?

Well, it wasn’t Tsukishima’s concern, so he shouldn’t pry about it. The real concern here was Suga, whenever he came into the room you know something is going to happen. He had learnt that much ever since the day Suga told him he was going to ‘be in the play’.

They had talked it out since then, about how uncomfortable Tsukishima was with doing something like this. He always hated doing school projects where you had to speak in front of the class, let alone doing something like actually preforming, unimaginable.

But despite all that, Suga reassured him it was going to be okay, he was probably able to pick up on how uneasy Tsukishima was about doing something like that. He even reassured him that there was a very small chance he would actually be needed, but that somehow didn’t make it any better. Saying that you’d be ‘just an understudy’ for someone wasn’t as reassuring as some people might imagine it to be. But then again, maybe the real thing he was concerned about was Kuroo. He did always seem to be around when Suga was nearby, and he was with him when Suga told him he was going to be in the play, and the scene Tsukishima was in was with Kuroo after all. Maybe he was the real reason he was feeling uneasy, he could never keep his cool around him. And no matter how much time had gone by and how many practices they had done together, Tsukishima still couldn’t shake this feeling about him.

“How were midterms, Tsukishima?” Suga’s pleasant voice spoke over top of both Bokuto and Akaashi, who seemed to be having some kind of conversation, no that Tsukishima could really pick up on it at all.

“Huh?” Oh, that’s right. It was almost as if Tsukishima had been so preoccupied with everything else that he forgot.

It was slightly over the half-way point of his year in New York, which meant a lot of things, only a little under four months left getting to stay here and work here, only a few more months of having to do hair, makeup, and be in a play, only a few months left to see Kuroo. He tried to throw the thought out of his mind for that very reason, he didn’t want to get attached to someone because he knew he would eventually leave, but he was afraid that was what he was starting to do.

Him and Kuroo kept a similar relationship ever since that night he told him about his food allergy, they would work together, flirt, and go home together, and sometimes Kuroo would come over on the weekends. They would sometimes kiss, go for rides on Kuroo’s bike, and hold hands, but it still felt like nothing had changed since then. Maybe Kuroo was just one of those overly friendly guys and all of this really did mean nothing to him, it was all the more reason for all of this to be over with and for Tsukishima to go back to Japan. But he still couldn’t stop himself. He liked being around Kuroo, he liked the looks he gave him, the way he kissed him, and seeing him every day. He was different from everyone else, and he was the only one Tsukishima had ever opened up to. Even though he wanted to go back to Japan, to never see him again, he also wanted to have more time here.

“Oh, they were fine, I passed them, so that’s all the matters.” Tsukishima also remembered the only other important detail of it being the half way point here, midterms.

They weren’t as big of a deal to him as they were to some of the other people in the foreign exchange program, but he still had to re-work his sleeping schedule so he could re-read the last several chapters for his literature one. He even took two days off from working here so he could get all those hours of lost sleep back. It was strange how he almost forgot all about it now. Well, nobody really does want to dwell on midterms after they’ve happened.

“That’s good to hear.” Suga had a pleasant smile on his face, one that said that was something he expected from someone like Tsukishima. Even when he’s studying far away from home with lots of other students, Tsukishima is still at the top of his class.

“Why are you here, Suga?” It sounded almost informal and borderline rude, the thought of asking someone who was technically one of your bosses why they were here, but truth be told, Suga only ever came here when he wanted something, or when he needed to tell someone something. Since the first one rarely happened, Tsukishima assumed it was the latter, and his brain started to prepare him for the worst.

Tsukishima was pretty sure Suga could pick up on that tone in his voice, that tone that was somewhere between annoyed and curious. Tsukishima wasn’t really the type of employee to hide anything or do anything that was unnecessary. Suga probably picked up on that decided not to beat around the bush.

“Hm? Is it that obvious?” He chuckled, with somewhat of a shameful look in his eyes as if he had just been figured out. Tsukishima didn’t say anything but just continued to look at him curiously. “Well, two things. First, it’s your turn to finally go in for a fitting for you costume, you might just be an understudy, but your height is quite different, so we need to get a costume that’ll fit you, they’re waiting for you in there already. And second, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor?” Tsukishima didn’t feel like he even heard him right. Who would want to visit him? Well, now that he thought about it, it would be around that time of year over there, and knowing his family, it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise if his brother came over, he was always worrying about him so much.

“I believe he said he’s a friend of yours from Japan, he said his name was Yamaguchi, so I told him to wait in the hallway and I would fetch you. You two can talk while you’re trying on your costume.”

Tsukishima didn’t know what to do as he just stood there, staring off in space as the three other people slowly exited the room. Yamaguchi as in _that_ Yamaguchi, his childhood best friend Yamaguchi? What was he doing here? Sure, the two of them did have their fair share of phone calls over the past few months. They made sure to keep in touch once a month at least, and it all started with whatever weird, panicked phone call Tsukishima sent him a few months back, on that night Kuroo first cooked for him.

Yamaguchi tried to console him by telling him that meant he liked Kuroo, but he still threw the thought from his mind. He told him that there was no way, and Yamaguchi being the concerned friend he always was, took it upon himself to check up on him ever since. Tsukishima wasn’t sure why Yamaguchi thought this was so amusing, but every time they spoke it always ended up being about Kuroo. it was so annoying, but annoying wasn’t the point right now. The point was, why was Yamaguchi here? Did he have a break from university?

It was almost awkward to the point where he felt panicked as he made his way out into the hallway, only to be greeted with the sight of his freckled-faced best friend, still with those few stray strands of brown hair sticking out from the top of his head. He looked as happy as ever, almost running over and pulling Tsukishima into a hug as he spotted him. He swore he never saw a face look so happy since he had been here. Did Yamaguchi miss him?

“Tsukki!” He yelled, his voice so loud he was sure the entire building could hear him. He ran over to Tsukishima, almost tripping over his own two feet in the process.

“What are you doing here, Yamaguchi?”

“Huh?” Yamaguchi seemed perplexed, like he was wondering why Tsukishima would ask such a thing. “We had a break from university, so I came to see you, Tsukki. Where’s Kuroo?”

“What?” Why did that have to be the first thing he asked? Not ‘how have you been’, ‘I missed you’, or ‘how’s school’, but they had to cut straight to talking about him like this. Well, it was kind of expected, but was that his only reason for coming here?

“He’s around.” Tsukishima shrugged his shoulders, trying to act like his brain wasn’t travelling a million miles a minute. Unlike him, Yamaguchi wasn’t the type of person to stay silent, he was a talker, a lot like Bokuto, and he had this unsettling feeling in his stomach when he thought about Yamaguchi and Kuroo together in the same place.

Oh no, wait. Was Yamaguchi trying to be a wingman? He had mentioned a handful of times when they spoke on the phone, about how Yamaguchi told him that he should go out with Kuroo, Tsukishima dismissed it every time, telling him he didn’t want to date someone he would never see again when he went back to Japan. But was that his reason for coming here? It couldn’t be.

Tsukishima tried to remain as composed and as relaxed as possible, turning down the hallway and gesturing for Yamaguchi to follow him. “I have a fitting to go to, so you should follow me and we can still talk.”

“Okay, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi seemed happy, a smile on his face as the two of proceeded to walk the short distance to the dressing room.

“So why did you come here?” Tsukishima wasn’t annoyed right now, but curious, and he knew his best friend knew that. If there was anyone that was able to read him, it was Yamaguchi.

“To see how you’re doing. When I last talked to you on the phone you seemed kind of stressed out, so I wanted to-“ He was still wearing the same old university jacket and plain t-shirt, that same ones that he swore he was wearing on the day he left for New York too. Tsukishima couldn’t help but smile, he really never did change.

Tsukishima sighed, he knew if he didn’t say something about it now there would be no end to it. “Is this about the Kuroo thing?”

The ‘Kuroo thing’ was his own way of referring to anything the two of them talked about when they talked about Kuroo. Whether that be Tsukishima just recapping his day to Yamaguchi and telling him about Kuroo, or Yamaguchi actually pestering him to do something about this crush that he kept on insisting he had. Yes, Tsukishima may have come to terms that he actually liked Kuroo by this point, but there was no way he was going to do anything about this ‘crush’ Yamaguchi said he had.

“Huh?” Yamaguchi seemed surprised that Tsukishima could even suggest this might not possibly be about Kuroo. So, he was right. Well, all Tsukishima could do now was bear it and wait for his best friend to leave. That seemed kind of cold, but he really didn’t want to have this conversation right now, or ever.

“Of course it’s about him, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi continued, his voice sounding somewhat higher than normal. “You like him and if Kuroo-“

Tsukishima steadily turned the doorknob the door that read ‘dressing room’ in a bold font on the door, half listening to Yamaguchi, and half trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever outfit with too much glitter they were going to force him to wear now. Now that he thought about it, he never actually did try on any of the outfits before, and the only time he had even had glitter on his body was when some would fall off one of the makeup brushes and land on his skin. He hated it, he swore it remained on his skin for another week before it finally washed off in the shower. Just what exactly was going to happen to him in there?

“Tsukki?” Another voice, almost giving off the same cheerfulness as Yamaguchi’s greeted them as they walked through the door. Tsukishima didn’t have to look up to know who it is. In all his time here there were only two other people that called him that, Bokuto and Kuroo, and since Bokuto was already gone for the day, it had to be Kuroo.

He wasn’t the only one that was in the room, a rack filled with various costumes covered in glitter lined the wall, with two almost stool-like stands that were surrounded by mirrors in the middle of the room. He could already see one person standing up one of them, it was Kuroo.

Head to toe in glitter, and wearing a similar white outfit to the one he wore on the day they first met, Kuroo stood with a smile on his face. What was he doing here? Well, it was obvious, he was here for a fitting. Tsukishima did recall Kuroo mentioning while he was doing his makeup that he felt his costume was too loose in certain parts. This must have been him fixing it. But seriously, did he have to have the glitter makeup on too? There was just something about him when he wore that much bright colored glitter that made Tsukishima get a strange feeling in his stomach.

Yamaguchi had never met Kuroo before, but he was sure he did a well enough job explaining what he looked like over the phone that there was no question about it. How many people had hair as terrible as Kuroo’s to begin with? There was no way he didn’t know it was him.

The theatre department, I guess you could say, had a small number of people who worked back stage. A lot of the people who worked on the props also became the people who worked on the costumes. Which explained why Akaashi was the one who was doing the measuring right now. He had some sewing utensils by him as he knelt down next to Kuroo, it looked like he was sewing the bottom part of his costume. This was probably the first time Tsukishima had actually been in this room, outside of the time Kuroo took him here on that tour he gave him on the first night. And it looked just as messy as you would expect.

The rack with all of the costumes on the back wall were all arranged neatly, with the costumes for the main characters in the front, like Oikawa’s, and the costumes for everyone else scattered about after that, all of them somehow with glitter. They were arranged neatly, but everywhere else in the room was a mess. He could see piles and piles, of what he assumed were clothes but they all sort of morphed together so it was hard to tell, all over the floor. He guessed that’s where people put their clothes when they were changing into them, but it all seemed kind of cluttered for some place that was supposed to be so organized.

“Ah, you’re here, Tsukishima.” Akaashi smiled, looking up from behind Kuroo, who somehow had an overly pleased look on his face. Tsukishima wondered what it was exactly that he seemed so happy about. “I have your costume done, it’s the last one on the rack, you can go ahead and try it on. I’m almost done with Kuroo, so just go ahead and strip.” Did he have to use that phrasing exactly?

Tsukishima wasn’t weirded out by seeing grown men in their underwear, he had already seen Bokuto bust out of this room a number of times wearing nothing but that, but that didn’t make the feeling any better. Maybe it was just because Kuroo was in the room, but he felt hesitant to even begin to go about taking his clothes off right now.

“Oho.” Kuroo just had to chime in as soon as Akaashi finished his sentence, with that dumb smirk on his face, and was Tsukishima blushing right now? Impossible.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Yamaguchi lightly put his hand on his shoulder, he would have probably forgot that he was even here at all. Yamaguchi could always see right through him, and regardless of what he thought, he would always know just how flustered he was feeling. He didn’t even think about it, but did Kuroo hear any of their conversation? Did he hear that they were talking about him?

Tsukishima didn’t have a choice right now, and this was no time to be shy, so he just did what he assumed everyone else did. He took off his clothes.

He wasn’t sure just how much he was supposed to ‘take off’. Should he strip down into his boxers, or should he just take off his shirt? He was only wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt today, so would doing something like that even be okay? And more importantly, what was he supposed to say to whatever comment Kuroo made at him when he saw him without a shirt?

Despite all the time the two of them had spent together, they had never seen each other like that. Wait, did that mean Kuroo didn’t have a shirt on right now? What was he supposed to do if Kuroo got done with his fitting before he did? Would Kuroo change his clothes back and show off that he wasn’t wearing a shirt either? What was Tsukishima supposed to do if that happened? And why was he feeling so hot right now? Did he want to see Kuroo without a shirt?

“You can just take off your shirt and shorts, Tsukishima. It’ll be fine” Akaashi could definitely pick up on how flustered he was, and he couldn’t tell if he was trying to be helpful or not? Wait, just who exactly was he helping? Akaashi had a smirk on his face, and he couldn’t decide if it was directed towards Kuroo or him.

Tsukishima tried to avoid eye contact with the both of them as he pulled off his shirt and shorts, and let them hang near an open space on the rack. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and was suddenly feeling self conscious about his pale skin. He didn’t even bother to look at Kuroo nor the expression that was bound to be on his face in this situation.

“Are you his friend?” He could see out of the corner of his eye Kuroo turning towards Yamaguchi with a pleasant expression on his face, as Tsukishima began to pull his costume off the rack, he listened in on their conversation.

“I am, I’m visiting from Japan.” Yamaguchi shook his head up and down, as if he was saying ‘yes’. “You’re Kuroo, right? Tsukki’s told me a lot about you.”

Tsukishima felt like yelling out Yamaguchi’s name right now, but he knew how much unwanted, embarrassed attention that would get him. Did he have to word it like that? The last thing he wanted was for Kuroo to know that he talks about him. Wait, was that really what he should be focusing on here? Who knows what kind of embarrassing things Yamaguchi was capable of spitting out when Tsukishima was in no position to stop him.

He forced himself to completely tune out their conversation, regardless of how many ‘hm’s’, ‘oh’s’, and ‘is that true, Tsukki’s?’ he heard. He had bigger problems, mainly his outfit.

He wasn’t quite sure what they went off of when it came to making him something like this, Tsukishima never gave them his measurements, so he had a feeling they just guessed on how long to make it.

It had a similar look to it to how Kuroo and Oikawa’s costumes were, white with lots of glitter. Tsukishima always hated wearing white, he felt like it made his pale skin stick out more, making him look like a ghost, and on top of that, the glitter drew more attention to him than he wanted. It was pretty plain, like something that he guessed was from Greek times, with a few golden lines running down to his legs, it even had a deep, dark red belt in the middle. It felt kind of soft as he took a moment to let his skin adjust to it, it was comfortable to say the least. But he couldn’t help but feel awkward as six unwanted eyes stared at him.

“What?” He questioned. Was he wearing this wrong? That wouldn’t surprise him, he did still know next to nothing about what he was supposed to do in a situation like this, and his knowledge of older fashion was limited to what was scene on TV.

He looked at himself, taking a few steps forward and getting a better look in the mirror, he almost felt shocked once his eyes fully adjusted to what was going on. This was why they were staring at him. The exposed skin.

He wasn’t sure if it was intentional, or just a terrible miscalculation of fabric, but his exposed pale chest and thighs were leaving him all kinds of uncomfortable. He really needed to force himself not to look anyone in the eyes right now, because he could already hear the comments. Seriously, what the fuck was he wearing?

“Um… Tsukki…” He could hear Kuroo’s voice but refused to meet his eyes, he wasn’t doing it, there was no way he was wearing something like this.

“Hm. Looks like we got the length right but under calculated the width.” Akaashi spoke, and he had a tone in his voice that made him sound more disinterred than normal, like he was being serious, and couldn’t even make a comment about Tsukishima’s current appearance, well, that was probably a good thing. Akaashi didn’t seem like the kind of person who would tease anyone.

“That’s what you have to comment on?” Tsukishima may have been a little pissed off right now, and you could tell that in his voice alone. It was almost like the sarcastic part in his brain was taking over.

“You look good, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi chuckled as he spoke, and Tsukishima sent him a death glare. He already said it, but he felt so awkward right now. And on top of that, he did feel like he was somewhat neglecting Yamaguchi, he came all the way here, and yet they couldn’t even talk about what they wanted to talk about.

“How long are you going to be here, Yamaguchi?” Tsukishima forced himself to have a serious conversation right now, maybe that would distract him and everyone else from whatever the hell was going on here. He didn’t know Yamaguchi’s plans, but he knew he did tell him about this play he was in, and he seemed way more than just being a little enthusiastic about it.

“Not too long, Tsukki. I’ll be staying here for the weekend, is it okay if I crash at your place?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s the weekend anyways.” Yamaguchi really should have told him he was coming in advance. Though the dorms didn’t say that you couldn’t have people over, especially if it was the weekend, but having anyone come over like this could be a little daunting. What would he have done if Tsukishima’s dorm room was messy?

“Hey, Tsukki-“ Kuroo almost cooed from standing next to him, forcing Tsukishima to look over without even thinking. His voice almost sounded assertive, like he was trying to get himself noticed. Well, if it wasn’t for Yamaguchi being there, Tsukishima would probably be more focused on Kuroo right now than he was.

Tsukishima spun himself around, probably on nothing more than just a normal reaction by this point. He didn’t think about what he was wearing, whenever he heard Kuroo say his name, he looked at him, it’s just sort of how things happened. He was cute and fun to talk to. He wasn’t quite sure what it was he felt, but he knew he wanted to see Kuroo more, and get more attention from him.

Most people probably would have told him to not do what he was doing right now. It almost felt like he was in the middle, and being wishy-washy. He wasn’t going to make a move to ask Kuroo to date him, but he also didn’t want to let it go. He didn’t even know what his goal was here, make a friend before he went back to Japan? Some kind of romance while he was in America? He knew he couldn’t date Kuroo, but he still didn’t want to leave him alone.

Then again, maybe it was Kuroo who couldn’t leave Tsukishima alone. This sort of thing always seemed to happen when the two of them were together, Tsukishima losing his balance, that is. Seriously, had he been cursed with terrible foot coordination? Maybe his long skinny legs couldn’t support the rest of his lanky body. How many times had this happened now?

“Careful.” Kuroo had a relaxed tone in his voice, and Tsukishima couldn’t tell if he was just trying to sound seductive or cool, or if it just came out that way. He could feel that awkward hot feeling he would get whenever Kuroo and him were close to each other rise all over his body.

He wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, well actually, he knew what he should say, but just saying a ‘thank you’ felt a little too formal right now. Kuroo still ahold of him, placing his arm near Tsukishima’s elbow. The costume he was wearing only covered the upper half of his arms, easily letting Kuroo’s hands touch his smooth skin.

His whole body tensed up but he didn’t pull away, it felt almost as if he moved closer to him. He didn’t say anything, probably because Kuroo wasn’t the type of person who would embarrass Tsukishima in front of the people whose opinions he actually cared about, meaning his childhood friend and his boss, but the look he was giving him was questionable at best. It almost felt as if Kuroo could tell what Tsukishima was thinking, like he could read his mind and know that he didn’t want to let go.

“So Akaashi, what was that thing you were telling me?” He tilted his head to the side slightly, looking back at Akaashi as he finished up doing whatever he was doing. Tsukishima kept a close watch on the two of them in the mirror, also feeling Yamaguchi’s lurking on all three of them from only a few feet away.

Every few seconds he was sure he could see Kuroo’s gaze shift, turning from looking at Akaashi to looking at him in the mirror. They didn’t make eye contact directly, but Tsukishima still got this strange feeling, it was like he was giving him a look that was a cross between provoking and reassuring. It was hard to explain, but it felt like those were two emotions Kuroo knew how to emulate well. He knew how to make people feel better when they were worried about something, but he also knew how to push people, he knew just what to say to get them to test their limits, and Tsukishima had experienced both of those things multiple times since getting here.

“It’s nothing out of the ordinary, but I said yes to Bokuto.” Akaashi spoke calmly, forcing Tsukishima to look at him and look past Kuroo in the process.

He didn’t even bother to think or notice how weird this whole situation was. Kuroo and him were pretty much holding hands as the two of them stood next to each other covered in glitter, and no one said a thing about it. Did no one care? Well, it probably wasn’t that they didn’t care, but that they were used to it. Even on the day he first got here both Suga and Oikawa mentioned that a number of people who worked and performed here were dating each other, this was probably something normal to see for them. Thinking back on it, he even remembered Oikawa saying Kuroo was Tsukishima’s ‘boyfriend’ from time to time. He knew he was only joking, but a comment like that coming from someone who was already hard to deal with pissed him off.

“You’re going out with Bokuto?” Tsukishima forced himself to focus on the conversation Akaashi was having with the two of them right now. He felt so distracted from Kuroo that the words Akaashi was saying didn’t quite register with him for a second. Didn’t Akaashi say all this time that he didn’t want to go out with Bokuto because he didn’t want to date someone he worked with? What changed?

Akaashi sighed as if he was expecting that kind of response. “It’s not that I don’t like him or anything, Bokuto’s pretty persistent and has a lot of good qualities…” His sentence trailed off, as if he was trying to think of a response. Well, Tsukishima couldn’t blame him.

Bokuto had been asking Akaashi out every day since he got here, and Kuroo told him it had been happening longer than that, he could understand why someone would eventually say yes just to get them to stop. But then again, as Tsukishima had noticed before, it wasn’t just Bokuto, even now he could tell by the subtle gaze Akaashi was making that he liked Bokuto too. He was probably guessing that he liked him all along, but just put up that petty excuse of ‘I don’t want to date someone I work with’, it was almost kind of funny. If it wasn’t for a thought going off in Tsukishima’s head, he may have actually laughed right now. Wasn’t he technically doing the same thing to Kuroo?

It was almost scary at just how relatable the situation had become. Akaashi didn’t want to date Bokuto because he didn’t want to date someone he worked with, and Tsukishima didn’t want to date Kuroo because he knew he would be leaving him in a few short months. They were so different, but Tsukishima couldn’t shake the similarity right now. And what exactly was that look Akaashi was giving him?

“Well, I’m not surprised.” Tsukishima didn’t quite know what he was saying, but it was almost as if what he was thinking was starting to show as he spoke. “I think you’re the one that really likes Bokuto, Akaashi.”

“You think so?” Akaashi looked up at him directly, letting the material on Kuroo’s costume fall out of his hand and hit the floor. “I could say the same thing to you then, right Tsukishima?”

“What do you mean?” Was it gang up on Tsukishima day? Because that’s what it felt like. With all of their eyes on him it was hard not to feel uneasy right now. And what exactly was that look Akaashi had been giving him, it was almost like he was scheming something.

Akaashi spoke again, and his words felt truthful, like the ones Tsukishima knew were coming but didn’t want to hear. He could still feel Kuroo’s warm hand touching him, and Yamaguchi looking at them with an agreeing smile, and he knew he wasn’t going to have any way to avoid this next conversation.

“If I’m not mistaken, you like someone too, don’t you, Tsukishima?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of those chapters I was kind of uncertain on, I ended up re-writing certain parts of it multiple times, but in the end I'm still pretty happy with it. I wanted to write some more theatre components into the story, since It it going to be ending soon, It's hard to believe there's only four chapters left after this. I also just really like writing Tsukki into awkward, anxiety filled situations, haha. I'm terrible.
> 
> Thank you guys so much for the support you've shown on this story so far. Next chapter we will get to more of Yamaguchi's visit, and maybe Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Kuroo will all hang out together


	7. Sight Seeing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Yamaguchi visiting, Kuroo offers to take him and Tsukishima sight seeing around New York, but pretty early into the day, plans change when Tsukishima's gets an unexpected phone call.

“What time is Kuroo coming here? Oh, good morning, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi smiled at him as he made his way out from the bathroom to the main room, a smile on his face, and something in Tsukishima told him that Yamaguchi didn’t know he hadn’t gotten up yet.

“He said in about an hour.” Tsukishima all but groaned as he pulled himself out of bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he scrabbled.

He had been awake now for what had to be at least an hour, letting himself just play with his phone to pass the time until he heard the sounds of Yamaguchi waking up too. His mind felt like it was far too lazy to process what time it was, but he was sure it had to been around ten, maybe even a little later.

It was a Saturday, his first free Saturday in a long time, Suga insisted on giving him the day off so he could spend time with his childhood friend, not even letting him complain about it as he shoved him out the door yesterday. He appreciated it, but did he have to say it while Kuroo was in the room too?

Him being the ‘such a nice guy that he is’, in his words, insisted of showing them around. He said it would be a good idea since Yamaguchi didn’t know where anything is, and Tsukishima only goes from the university to the theatre, to the dorms, and that he wouldn’t know any decent places to take them. He wasn’t wrong, Tsukishima would give him that, but the way he was so insistent was almost alarming, and the way Yamaguchi agreed to it was even worse. What was going on here?

He couldn’t complain too much about it though, that did get him out of the awkward conversation he was having yesterday with Akaashi in front of the two of them. He knew exactly what Akaashi was implying, it was like he was telling it was his turn to make a real move on Kuroo, not just flirting. He was hoping Akaashi wasn’t the type of guy to do something just to prove a point to someone else, but it all seemed just a little too odd. He knew there was a good reason why he shouldn’t date Kuroo, and why neither him nor Kuroo asked each other out yet. Though they never actually spoke about it, Tsukishima had said multiple times that he didn’t want to date someone because he would only be leaving them in a few short months. He wasn’t quite sure what Kuroo thought, but he let himself believe that Kuroo respected that and didn’t want that either. So why did it feel like everyone was so insistent on getting them together?

He let Yamaguchi stay over the night with him, well, it wasn’t so much that he let him, but that he didn’t have a choice. Where else was he going to go? If anything, he was just a shamed that he didn’t have the time to clean anything up. But his dorm was still bigger than his bedroom back home, so he couldn’t complain, and neither did Yamaguchi.

Tsukishima offered him the bed but he remained insistent on sleeping on the floor, saying he didn’t mind it, and whenever they had sleepovers as kids that’s how things usually went for the two of them. Yamaguchi would always sleep on the floor, and Tsukishima would always take the bed, the only difference this time being Tsukishima didn’t have an extra mattress or futon for him to lay on. He felt terrible for only being able to offer someone who was supposed to be his friend an extra pillow and blanket, but somehow Yamaguchi didn’t seem to mind. He was really more lax than he remembered, or he didn’t want to make a fuss about anything, probably the latter.

Tsukishima didn’t know what to do with himself last night. After getting fit for his costume, Kuroo did the usual ‘I’ll walk you home’ thing he had been doing for the past several months. It was just as alarming as always, but the way Yamaguchi almost seemed to encourage him was the most frightening part. He even took steps back, allowing Tsukishima and Kuroo to walk side by side, allowing their shoulders to bump into each other, and don’t even get him started on the way Kuroo would look at him. His eyes were so provoking, and his laugh was so obnoxious, but somehow Tsukishima couldn’t stop himself from looking away.

Tsukishima finally got out of bed at the sounds of hearing something in the kitchen, he hadn’t put his phone down from playing whatever the latest mobile app that Bokuto insisted he install, but he assumed it was Yamaguchi. It had to be that or there was a ghost in his dorm that really enjoyed cooking.

“What are you making?” Tsukishima asked, letting the phone fall out of his lands and land on his stomach. He could feel his eyes start to grow a little restless from looking at the screen for so long.

“I thought that was you, Tsukki.” He looked down at the floor where Yamaguchi was laying, he could still see him comfortably sitting on the floor, still fresh in his pajamas with the covers snug over the lower half of his body, looking up at him with a curious expression on his face.

Maybe it was just a natural reaction, or maybe he was just tired from the long day yesterday felt like, but Tsukishima jumped out of bed. He always did have this pretty bad habit of leaving the front door to his dorm room unlocked. He didn’t really have a need to lock it since the only other people that lived here were the other foreign exchange students, and it wasn’t like they were any dangerous, he figured as long as he kept his balcony door locked he was fine.

His initial reaction was that someone was probably sleepwalking and ended up in the wrong dorm, he did bring this upon himself for not locking his door, but that didn’t stop him from grabbing a book off his desk on the way to the kitchen. It wasn’t like this dorm room was big anyways, but he could already hear the nagging voice of his brother inside of his head telling him to remember self defense, just in case.

“Kuroo?” He almost felt relieved as he saw the familiar shape of black bedhead looking at him through his tired eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Making breakfast.” He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, even chuckling and placing his hands on his hips as he did so. “You know, you really shouldn’t leave your door unlocked, even if it is safe here. Any idiot could just accidentally walk in here.”

“I think any idiot did.” Tsukishima joked back at him, feeling almost childish as he placed his book down on the counter.

Kuroo seemed to pick up on the lack of seriousness and tired sense in his voice, he gave him somewhat of a sleepy look with half-lidded eyes. Was Kuroo trying to be sexy right now? Tsukishima couldn’t quite figure it out, but the way Kuroo looked at him almost made him feel like he wanted to kiss him. And where the hell was Yamaguchi while all this was going on?

“What was that?” Kuroo turned his head to the side, vaguely catching the words Tsukishima spewed out on instinct alone.

“Nothing.” He didn’t get a look at him fully, but Tsukishima could see the familiar sight of the old frying pan being pulled out of one of the overhead cabinets, and were those eggs? Since when did Tsukishima even own eggs? He hadn’t been to the convenience store to buy anything other than more Ramen packs in over two weeks, and his kitchen was starting to look more bare than anything else. Whatever Kuroo was making, he knew he didn’t have the ingredients for.

Well, it wasn’t that hard to figure out where they came from, it wasn’t the first time Kuroo cooked food for him unexpectedly like this. It was almost a routine that Kuroo would arrive here, phone Kenma, and he would be over here in a matter of seconds to deliver some leftover food. Of course, the conversation was kept short, every time Kenma would insist that Kuroo should go home, and then proceed to ask Tsukishima how he was doing. He guessed he was doing it out of basic protocol, they probably needed to always check up on the foreign exchange students to make sure they were doing okay, but every time Kenma had a look in his eyes that he couldn’t quite describe. Maybe he was just over thinking things, but it looked just like that look Akaashi gave him yesterday.

Oh well, he knew it was best not to concern himself with something like that. Plus, he was still feeling too tired to even think about it.

“Oh, is Kuroo here?” Yamaguchi had impeccable timing, poking his head out of the bedroom section of Tsukishima’s dorm room. Tsukishima almost had a mind to give him some snarky remark, but he decided it would be better to hold his tongue, something about him didn’t want to ruin today.

“Good morning, it was Yamaguchi, right?” Kuroo spun himself around to get a full view of his freckled-friend, as if he was trying to recall the small conversation they had from yesterday.

“Yeah.” Yamaguchi nodded his head up and down, and Tsukishima swore you could see his hair moving as he did so, it was almost amusing to watch as Kuroo spun back around.

“Are eggs okay? I asked Kenma, but there wasn’t really anything else left over.”

“Oh yeah, eggs are fine.” Yamaguchi had that same pleasant smile on his face, and for a brief moment Tsukishima saw Yamaguchi turn his head towards him, like he was observing him and expecting him to say something.

“Where are you taking us today, Kuroo?” Yamaguchi spoke up again, and Tsukishima was getting the sense that Yamaguchi was going to steer this whole conversation. Tsukishima wasn’t much for talking, especially in the morning, and his mind couldn’t fully understand what it was exactly that his best friend was getting at right now. Maybe that was just from the sleep.

“I was thinking Time Square, it is a must-see tourist destination, then I’ll take you two to my favorite restaurant, and we can end things off in Central Park, and maybe we can see a movie if we have the time.”

“Sounds like fun.” Yamaguchi beamed, a smile still on his face as he turned towards Tsukishima, it was like he was asking for his approval. “Well, I’m going to go get changed. Be right back, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi had a certain glint in his eyes, one that signified that he was up to something, but Tsukishima didn’t have time to stop him or even think up a response as he merrily skipped off towards the direction of the bathroom, leaving him and Kuroo alone.

Maybe he was just feeling some added pressure on him after seeing Akaashi and Bokuto yesterday, but Tsukishima couldn’t get over this impending sense that he needed to do something. Anything. His time with Kuroo was getting shorter too, the months could now be counted as weeks, and before he knew it he would have to go back to Japan again, never getting to see Kuroo, or any of the other people at the theatre again.

Maybe he was just starting to realize that he did like Kuroo, but it was too late now. Tsukishima had mere weeks left, finals were going to be tough, and he knew that this kind of decision was better made when he was in his first few months of being here, not his last. He missed his opportunity, and all he could hope for now was that Kuroo and him could have some kind of friendship when he leaves in a few weeks. There was nothing more that could come out of this than that.

“Kuroo-“ Tsukishima spoke again, he wasn’t sure why, maybe he just wanted to say something before Yamaguchi returned, but the words just wouldn’t come out. What did he even want to say anyways? That he liked Kuroo and that he knew it wasn’t fair to tell him this when he was this close to leaving? Would that give him so kind of closure? It wasn’t like Tsukishima hadn’t lost sleep at night thinking about this, but he still couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Maybe he truly was starting to regret coming to New York.

“What is it, Tsukki?” Kuroo cocked his head to the side, as if he waiting for Tsukishima to say something, still keeping an eye on the food he was making. But once again, Tsukishima was left with his words not being able to come out.

It would be so much better if he knew that their relationship actually had potential. He had thought it over a number of times, if Kuroo and him both lived together, if Kuroo was the one in Japan, and if Tsukishima didn’t have to worry about leaving him soon. It would have been so much better. Sure, there is some kind of appeal and fun to be had with having a romance with someone while you study abroad, but like all good things, they must come to an end, and Tsukishima still didn’t know how to handle that. Did he even have anything in common with Kuroo outside of the whole theatre thing? He didn’t think so.

“It’s nothing, never mind.”

 

 

 

There’s something different about going to a place during the day instead of at night. Maybe it was just the bright lights, the more people, and the way there are no stars to shine against the billboards.

Kuroo took them to Time Square, just as he said he did. He called them a taxi after breakfast, showing off his bike parked out in front of the dorms on the way. Yamaguchi had a bit of an excited expression, telling Tsukishima that he couldn’t picture him riding on one of those things. Even Tsukishima still couldn’t believe it when he would recall how many times he clung so willingly onto Kuroo when they would ride home together like this. Kuroo even bought Tsukishima a helmet, telling him that he needed to protect himself when they did this kind of thing together. It was just a simple gesture, but to Tsukishima it meant everything, it was almost as if it was an open invitation, and he still didn’t know what to think of it. Though on a different note, Tsukishima was beginning to think the bedhead that Kuroo had was all attributed to the helmet, it wasn’t a bedhead at all, it was helmet hair.

“Wow!” Yamaguchi had an enthusiastic expression in his voice, one similar to a little kid who is going to an amusement park for the first time.

Tsukishima could see his eyes wander from the ever changing billboards, going from the one that seemed to advertising the ad for _Wicked_ , which seemed to always be playing, to the one showing whichever blockbuster movie just debuted, and then to the other one going back and forth between the new music from some bands that just released. Tsukishima guessed that he probably had that same expression on his face when he saw this for the first time too. It felt all the same to him now. Though, he would only come here when it was with Kuroo, without him he would hardly leave his room. It was somewhat concerning, he had become so attached and dependent on him in these past few months. He would only go out with him, he would eat his meals with him, there were even some times when he would only go to his job with him. And Tsukishima was starting to realize it was impossible to continue living like this.

This was bad. No, this was worse than bad.

“Oh? What do ya’ think?” Kuroo had a grin on his face as he watched Yamaguchi with amusement. He probably did get some kind of joy out of seeing someone’s reaction to a place this grand for the first time. Tsukishima was pretty sure he saw that same look when he took him here for the first time too.

“It’s amazing. I’ve seen pictures and everything but it’s totally different seeing it in person. I can’t believe Tsukki has been living so close to something like this.” Yamaguchi almost giggled, sounded like an excited little kid once again, and Tsukishima thought it was almost cute.

“It’s amazing, huh? I’ve taken Tsukki here a few times before, how about we- actually, wait, it’s Saturday, I’ll go grab us some food from the kart over there. It’s on sale today. Is hot dogs okay, Yamaguchi? Tsukki, I’ll go grab you something from the kart down the street-“

“But that’s-“ It was in times like this that Tsukishima was reminded of just how much food he was allergic to. It became almost tiring on most days to walk the streets with Kuroo, seeing all these vendors offer all kinds of food at a more than reasonable price, and not being able to eat anything. He was used to passing them day in and day out without getting something to eat, it was too much of a hassle, and even back in Japan, it was the same. But despite all that, Kuroo seemed to be more considerate of him.

He had seen him do this a number of times before, ever since that day when he found out Tsukishima was allergic to meat, he would go out of his way to find something for him to eat, whether that be a salad or a slice of pizza, Kuroo wanted to make sure he at least ate something. One time he even went as far as to buy a hamburger and take the actual ‘burger’ part off of it for him. It was a nice gesture, but Tsukishima found it to be such a bother.

The amount of food stands that were actually selling something that didn’t have any meat on them was few and far between. Your options were pretty much limited to burgers, hot dogs, and maybe some salads from the ‘healthy eating’ ones, Tsukishima didn’t need anything to eat, he wasn’t hungry even though it was approaching lunch, but he could already see that look of determination in Kuroo’s eye as he began to wander down the street.

“Kuroo, you don’t have to-“ Tsukishima tried to call for him again, but it was useless. What was he thinking? Tsukishima knew better to know that there weren’t any that were selling something without meat nearby, he was going to have to walk at least a block or more to get something.

“Why is he like this?” Tsukishima groaned, he sounded more inconvenienced than anything, but he somehow couldn’t bring himself to hate the idea of Kuroo doing something like this for him. He wanted his attention and to be around him, and he liked how considerate he was.

He used to regret the idea of telling Kuroo about his food allergy, but maybe it was a good thing. The reason he kept it a secret all this time was because he didn’t want to be a bother to anyone because of it, he didn’t want to make them feel like they had to cook around his allergy, he didn’t want people to have to force to adjust themselves and what they were doing because of him.

But Kuroo took it differently than he imagined, Kuroo made it feel like it wasn’t an inconvenience, like Tsukishima didn’t have to worry about it. He made Tsukishima feel as if there was nothing wrong with him at all. It was almost a strange feeling, and Tsukishima wasn’t quite sure how he should express himself when Kuroo did these kinds of things for him.

“Hm. Isn’t it okay, though?” Yamaguchi hummed, still with that pleasant smile on his face.

“What do you mean by that?” Tsukishima questioned him, though he had a pretty good idea of what he was implying.

“He’s cute and he cares about you. He’s the only person you’ve willingly told about your food allergy, and he still treats you so considerately. I’d say he’s pretty perfect if you ask me.”

“What are you getting at here, Yama-“

“He likes you, and you like him.” They were words Tsukishima already knew were so obvious, but hearing them from his best friend almost had a different effect on them. It didn’t take a genius to know that a lot of people wouldn’t do what Kuroo did, and though he was still learning about him, he didn’t seem like that bad of a person.

Saying he wasn’t a bad person probably wasn’t the right choice of words right now. Kuroo wasn’t bad at all, he made some questionable life choices, which led to him owning a motorcycle, having tattoos, and occasionally driving recklessly, but Tsukishima couldn’t say he didn’t mind it. If only he didn’t have to leave in a few months, if only there was a way for him to get more time with Kuroo, if only things didn’t have to be like this.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Thank you.” Kuroo smiled politely, pulling ten dollars out of overcrowded leather wallet. “You can keep the change.”

His hands felt crowded, to say the least, he swore he was carrying at least ten pounds of food in his arms, and that didn’t even include all the sweat that had built up from running up and down the block within these past few minutes. It was a chore and a much needed work out, but most of all, it was for Tsukki. Kuroo’s Tsukki. So he didn’t mind it.

It was nothing more than a simple, polite gesture, something Kuroo was well aware that he didn’t have to do. He knew very well that he probably wasn’t hungry, they did just eat not too long before leaving the dorms after all, but no, he needed to do this for him. He knew Tsukishima well enough to consider him to be a friend, if not something more, and he knew the various circumstances surrounding him, but more than that, he knew that Tsukishima was the kind of person who wouldn’t eat in a place like this if he didn’t get him something. Just about everything around here was nothing but meat, and Tsukishima wasn’t the kind of person to make his problems known. Kuroo knew that if he probably didn’t get him some food, then he probably wouldn’t eat until he got back home tonight. He always did seem like the kind of person who would keep quiet about his problems.

Other than just food, Kuroo was well aware of what it was that Tsukishima wanted, or he thought he was aware, at least. He was here studying abroad, his grades came first, he made that clear from the day the two of them first met each other. And Kuroo knew a lot of things but he wasn’t an idiot, Tsukishima was smart, sharp, and snarky, and he was the only interesting person he had met in the past few months. He was guarded as hell but fun to be around, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t leave him alone.

Deep down Kuroo hoped these were all but just temporary feelings, Tsukishima was going to have to leave soon, in a few weeks to be exact. He never tried to keep a distance from him and hide his feelings, but Tsukishima never said anything either. Kuroo wanted him to be comfortable, but he never wanted to make the situation awkward. If anything, he just wanted him to stay.

Tsukishima was still a third year and had another year at university, so Kuroo kept wondering if there was any way possible that he could prolong his visit. Kuroo would give anything to spend another year with Tsukishima, he would even wish upon a star or throw money in a fountain if it were possible it would work. But no, it wouldn’t, Kuroo knew it wouldn’t. He knew Tsukishima was leaving soon and that he just wanted to make the most of the time he had left. Maybe if things turned out super well he would get a chance to kiss him one more time.

Kuroo hadn’t been on a date in over a year, and maybe he was just a little too oblivious to romance right now, but he knew nothing good would come from telling Tsukishima how he felt. He had even spoken to Kenma a number of times about it, and each time he told him to just tell him, but Kuroo still couldn’t. He knew Tsukishima wouldn’t want it. And the last thing he wanted right now was for Tsukishima to hate him right before he returned home. In his eyes, not telling him was actually better.

In the time they spent together, Tsukishima made it a point to make it clear that he had no intentions of dating anyone when he was over here, he would say that he wouldn’t want to date someone and then leave them to go back to Japan, and Kuroo respected that. He knew that Tsukishima wasn’t the type of person who really had a lot of friends or would speak his mind, so he wanted to do his best to make him feel like he could be there for him, even if only as a friend, and even if they fell out of touch the day Tsukishima would go back. Kuroo could never hear from him again, but as long as Tsukishima was happy, that would be all that matters.

Kuroo decided to pick up his walking pace, throwing those thoughts from his mind, he knew he shouldn’t dwell on something like this right now, it would bring down the mood. Maybe he should go for a drive later, that always did seem to make him forget about things, and his shoulder finally stopped bothering him after that crash several months ago, things were going well.

Off in the distance he could see Tsukishima and his friend, Yamaguchi. talking. Tsukishima’s face had that same familiar shade of subtle pink that he admired so much. He was so cute when he was flustered, and Kuroo was having a hard time concealing his urge to want to kiss him right now. You could probably see an almost excited look of anticipation on his face.

As he got closer he could see Tsukishima reach into his pocket as his phone rang, Kuroo listened to Tsukishima’s words as he appeared closer to the two, handing Yamaguchi his hot dog as he waited for Tsukishima.

“Yes? Hello?” Tsukishima’s voice sounded disinterested, and Kuroo zoned in on that, he made it a point to learn everything about him that he possibly could since he met him, and that included everything from his eating habits to the slow way his lips moved as he thought over his words when he spoke.

Kuroo had really never seen Tsukishima get phone calls, or use his phone that much as a matter of fact. There were a few occasional times when he would bring his laptop to the theatre to work on writing a paper, but for the most part Tsukishima just did his work with the theatre, and did it diligently, and Kuroo admired him all the more for that.

He thought that maybe there was a slight chance the person on the other line may have been Suga or Akaashi, thinking that maybe they needed to talk to Tsukishima about something regarding the play. He couldn’t tell who the voice was on the other end of the line, but from the look on Tsukishima’s face and the way that he crinkled his nose almost in disgust, he assumed it was something unpleasant and something that he considered a bother. He always had that same look on his face whenever he was inconvenienced.

“But.. they said… I know, but…” It felt Tsukishima’s sentence were more like half sentences. There was no context, and Kuroo found it incredibly hard to tell what he was talking about. Well, it was probably a rude thing to do, to sort of eavesdrop like this, but that unpleasant look in his eyes turned to one of surprise as he continued on. Maybe Kuroo just couldn’t help himself.

“Fine.” Tsukishima hung up the phone, with that signature annoyed look in his eyes and a harsh tone in his voice.

Both Kuroo and Yamaguchi shared a confused and concerned glance, but it was Yamaguchi to actually say something first. “Something wrong, Tsukki?”

“It was just from the stupid administrations from the school, there’s been a change in plans, that’s all.” It didn’t appear as if Tsukishima was the type of person to lose his temper, but the look he was giving them right now definitely looked like one that was annoyed and pissed off. Both Kuroo and Yamaguchi raised their eyes and gave him a look, letting him know that he should continue.

“Is it bad, Tsukki?” Yamaguchi spoke up again, and Kuroo just waited for what he assumed would be the worst news of his life, and he wasn’t wrong.

“It’s nothing major, there’s just been a scheduling change. Apparently, a number of the students are being requested to go back early, and I’m being one of them. It basically just means I’m returning to Japan sooner than expected, on the night of the play, to be exact.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a shorter chapter this week, I didn't want to draw this story out too long, so I wanted to get to the main conflict plot in this chapter. I kind of really struggled with writing this one, so I hope it doesn't feel too forced or out of place. But things may or may not be getting a little angsty soon.


	8. A Change Of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima decides what he wants to do with having to go back to Japan earlier, and later he meets with Kenma, and learns something shocking about Kuroo.

****

“What?” Both Kuroo and Yamaguchi yelled in perfect unison, their faces both mimicking that same shocked expression, looking like they were about t feint. And Tsukishima couldn’t help but think what a headache today had become.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll do the play and then leave.” Tsukishima’s mood was ruined, he could say that in the least, and that sour expression was probably evident on his face as he sighed and turned his head away from them.

If anything, this was just solidifying what Tsukishima thought beforehand, him and Kuroo couldn’t be together. Though being gay wasn’t as much of an issue in today’s society as it used to be, it still wouldn’t work out. Tsukishima was leaving sooner than expected, he couldn’t be with Kuroo and that was that. Their love and whatever feelings he had for him would go unrequited, maybe it was better that way. So why, why was Tsukishima feeling his face get all hot right now? It wasn’t in the ‘I’m blushing from embarrassment or because I really like you’ sort of way, this was more like ‘I can feel tears swelling up in my eyes’ sort of way. What was going on today?

“Tsukki!” Both Kuroo and Yamaguchi continued with the speaking in unison thing, somehow giving Tsukishima even more of a headache, and he was certain he was about to get some kind of lecture. You could just tell when this sort of thing was coming, especially from Yamaguchi.

“Is that how it is, then?” Kuroo spoke up this time, and Tsukishima had a hard time figuring out what he meant by that. His words seemed unamused and unaffected.

Tsukishima would have thought this was all no big deal to Kuroo with a tone like that, maybe he was truly nothing to Kuroo other than someone to flirt with for a few months.

But, if it wasn’t for that subtle dull look in his eyes that he caught, it was only a subtle glance, but it was still there. If it wasn’t for that, Tsukishima may have just left it at that. Did Kuroo look sad right now? It was always hard to tell his emotions and what he was thinking, (partly because of his hair), but in all of the time the two of them spent together, he swore he never saw Kuroo make a face like that.

“Apparently so.” Tsukishima wasn’t sure what it was with him right now, both him and Kuroo weren’t talking at all. Well, they were, but nothing that either of them wanted to say.

They weren’t looking at each other, and both of them had a fist placed over their mouth, like they were trying to conceal their feelings right now. Out of the corner of his eye, Tsukishima could catch a brief glimpse of Yamaguchi, and he had the most panicked expression on his face. It was like he was the one who was freaking out here, both his hands were up as if he was on guard about something, and his face was beat red. Tsukishima knew there was another reason why his best friend came here, Yamaguchi visiting him just because he ‘had free time’ was incredibly unlike him. He was checking up on him, but more so, his checking out Kuroo.

Yamaguchi’s personality was kind of like the overbearing big brother type, he wanted to make sure Tsukishima was taken care of. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if his actual bother, Akiteru, put him up to it. He probably wanted to make sure this ‘Kuroo’ Tsukishima mentioned to him so many times before was actually good enough for him.

Tsukishima already said multiple times, both out loud and to himself, but he had no intention of falling in love or getting attached to anyone while he was here, but the look on Yamaguchi’s face was telling him otherwise. And deep down, he knew it was too late.

“I’m sorry.” Kuroo spoke up again, causing both Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to look at him. His words sounded more sincere this time than previously.

“What are you sorry for?” Tsukishima lowered his hand from his mouth, looking at him with a confused, almost annoyed expression, he furrowed his eyebrows together, almost as if he was scolding him.

“No reason in particular.” Lies. Tsukishima knew that was a lie, no one would say anything like that unless they were sorry about something. But he didn’t have the heart in him to tell him ‘if you have something to say, just say it’ right now.

Kuroo wasn’t talking and neither was Tsukishima, it was better this way, or at least, that’s what Tsukishima told himself. It was better without Kuroo, and regardless if he believed it or not, things were going to stay this way. Nothing would have come out of this anyways.

“I’m going to go for a bike ride.” Kuroo added in, turning his back to the two of them completely. It was like he was walking away from him for good, and Tsukishima swore if he stayed there any longer he would break down crying. “Tsukishima can continue showing you around, Yamaguchi.”

Tsukishima. That was the first time Kuroo had ever used his name like that. Even from the day the two of them first met, it was always ‘Tsukki’, or the occasional ‘Kei’, but never Tsukishima. He had never heard his name pronounced that way in so long, that it almost sounded foreign to him.

Kuroo was already walking away, not giving them a chance to response, and his image grew smaller and smaller in Tsukishima’s eyes.

He knew right now that he had two options. The right choice, the choice of running after him, yelling at him, telling him that he liked him and that he wanted to stay. Or the easier choice, the choice of doing nothing, letting him walk away and stay with Yamaguchi. Deep down Tsukishima knew which was the right one and which one he should make, but for him it was so much easier to do nothing. He would just count down the days until he could leave and go back to Japan, and truly hoped he would never have to experience this kind of pain in his chest again. He was starting to think that maybe it truly was a mistake coming here.

“Tsukki-“ Yamaguchi spoke up again, as he expected he would. He had no choice but to cut him off with an abrupt motion of his hand, he knew if he didn’t do that then Yamaguchi would force him to go after Kuroo. Sometimes he hated how his best friend was like that.

“It’s fine, whatever.” It wasn’t fine, but Tsukishima would be damned if he let his feelings get to him. He wasn’t here to make friends, he was here to study, he didn’t care or need Kuroo, he would fine without him.

“But Tsukki-“ Yamaguchi whined, and Tsukishima has to force himself to come up with something, he knew if didn’t that there would definitely be a lecture in store for him.

That being said, Kuroo was still their one way ticket to not being bored this afternoon. Tsukishima almost felt ashamed, he had lived here for over six months and still had nowhere to take Yamaguchi expect the theatre and a convenience store, and one of those he was really dreading going to right now. He would have to do the next best thing he could think of, ask someone else.

“It’s fine, Yamaguchi. We’ll go back to the dorms, I’ll ask Kenma where we should go.”

 

 

 

“It’s not my place to tell you about him.” Kenma looked down at the ground, holding the cup of coffee Tsukishima just purchased for him in his hand. “But he should be fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he gets like this sometimes. He’s provoking and annoying sometimes, but he gets impulsive, he just probably needs time to clear his head.”

Tsukishima wasn’t sure why hearing the words like that relieved him so much. He was over Kuroo, he had to be, but that didn’t mean he still couldn’t concern himself with his fellow work buddies problems. Maybe it was just because deep down he knew he had a lot more to learn about Kuroo. He didn’t seem like the kind of person who had a short temper, but there was something about his attitude back there that was making it hard for him to let it go.

“Well, I should be leaving now. Thanks for the coffee, by the way.” Kenma stood up from the small table they were at, his over-sized sweater almost made him appear a lot younger than he actually was, and Tsukishima was certain he still didn’t recognize him as he walked in here.

Tsukishima nodded back to him. “It’s the least I could do for asking you to meet me out here like this in the middle of the night.”

“Are you coming back to the dorms?” He asked, turning around as he stood in the doorway. It was well passed two in the morning, and Kenma was probably wondering why Tsukishima wasn’t getting up too.

“I will, I just need some time to think.” Tsukishima looked, bringing his eyes to stare at the bland top of the table they sitting at. He started counting the bits of marble in it as he mulled over his next response.

“Okay, don’t stay out too late, I have to say that as your RA and all.”

“I won’t, I’ll be back within the hour.”

There was something about talking to Kenma like this, maybe it was just his soft spoken voice and lax attitude, but Tsukishima felt calmer. Maybe it was just because Kenma knew Kuroo so well, but Tsukishima felt relieved as he listened to him.

It had been about half a week since he got that phone call, the one telling him he needed to head back to Japan early, it was the last time he even saw or heard from Kuroo. Yamaguchi had already head back to Japan, making sure to give him a stern lecture before he left, but it was Kuroo he was worried about. He hadn’t shown up to the theatre at all, and every day he could hear the worried whispers and murmurs of everyone asking where Kuroo was. Maybe he just didn’t want to show up, but you couldn’t blame him for feeling so uncertain.

That’s why he called Kenma and asked him to meet him here, he figured if anyone knew what was going on with Kuroo, it would be him. He seemed to be the only person to notice how frequently Kuroo came over to Tsukishima’s place after all, and there was something about him that made him feel like he would never judge you.

Although, Tsukishima didn’t plan on meeting with him so late at night. He knew both Yaku and Kuroo told him Kenma was a bit of a night owl, that he stayed up all night playing video games, but he never understood what he meant until now.

He sent him a message this morning, since the RA’s willingly give out all their phone numbers to all the residents, but he didn’t hear from him again until after midnight. Well, it wasn’t like Tsukishima could complain, and maybe getting out in the middle of the night and having a chat over a cup of coffee would be a nice break.

He figured he would mull over it some more, sit here and think for the next hour or so, and then head back to his room. It was a good thing a lot of the cafés around here were opened almost all night.

He figured that some sleep would do him some good, since he hadn’t been sleeping much at all since that night. He forced himself not to look in a mirror, but even he knew his eyes were all red and puffy. He got the sense that even with his glasses on, everyone could see them too, they just didn’t want to say anything. It seemed that no matter where he walked, whether that be the school or the theatre, everyone seemed to look at him with that same disapproving expression. Maybe it was all in his imagination, but Tsukishima felt like everyone could see the heartbreak on his face. Maybe it truly was a mistake walking away, though, he knew nothing good would have come out of the other option either, so maybe this was for the best.

As far as what it was the two of them actually talked about, it was nothing. Kenma was observant, so he knew the circumstances pretty well that surrounded Tsukishima and Kuroo, he knew just how often Kuroo was over, and just how many times the two of them had kissed. (Kenma let it slip one night while he was bringing them more leftover ingredients that he was tired of getting texts from Kuroo about the two of them.) Tsukishima wasn’t sure what he was expecting out of talking to him. Maybe comfort, someone who’s not going to judge him and let him know Kuroo was doing fine. He really didn’t even know why he did this, but it was too late to go back on it now.

“Um… Tsukishima.” Kenma spoke up again, he hadn’t noticed until now that he hadn’t left yet, he had been staring at him this whole time, like he was observing them as he stood in the open doorway of the cafe.

Tsukishima brought his head up from looking at the table, he gave him a curious expression. He didn’t know what he was about to say, but if he was going to give him some kind of advice, he was willing to listen. There was something about Kenma that just made him seem trustworthy.

But, Tsukishima wasn’t prepared for what he was about to say, he just looked at him with that shocked expression he seemed to have on his face more often recently. He didn’t know what Kenma meant by it. Was he too trying to help Tsukishima in the same ways Akaashi and Yamaguchi did? Or was it just a comment. Either way, it would have been hard for Tsukishima to hide the fact that he was excited upon hearing it.

“For what it’s worth, Kuroo liked you too.”

 

 

 

Another half a week had past, well, it wasn’t so much a half a week as it was a full week now. It had been one full week since the whole ordeal with that phone call, one full week since Yamaguchi’s visit, and one full week since he had heard or seen anything from Kuroo.

Tsukishima wasn’t really the type of person who would willingly reach out and contact someone. Even when Kuroo and him would text each other, it was always Kuroo who would text first, Tsukishima only would if he needed something or wanted to ask him a question. He was starting to think that maybe if he actually reached out to him, that Kuroo would have actually shown up right now. Because believe it or not, it was the opening night of the play, and Kuroo hadn’t reared his bedhead at all.

He had been here for over two hours by this point, and he had done hair and makeup on people as simple as extras to someone as grand as Oikawa, but not once did he see the bedhead in sight. In a way, he was thrilled, tonight would be his last night here, he already had his suitcases packed and was ready to catch his plane at midnight tonight. He even already texted Yamaguchi and told him what time his flight lands so he could meet him at the airport when he got back. But even though he was leaving soon, he was still sad.

Maybe Tsukishima was just counting on being able to see Kuroo one last time, tell him that he wanted to keep in touch again, or that if he ever was back in New York or if Kuroo was in Japan that they could meet up. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted to have another chance to tell him how he felt. As hopeless as it may have sounded, he wanted to do just one more thing before he regrets it all.

“Tsukki! Are you free? My hair needs fixing!” Tsukishima almost jumped at the sound of hearing ‘Tsukki’ coming from someone. It may not have been right for him to just assume it was Kuroo, because the look of disappointment on his face when Bokuto looked at him was probably upsetting.

“Oh yeah, sure.” Tsukishima changed his expression as quickly as he could, motioning for him to sit down in the chair.

He hadn’t noticed it until now that Akaashi was standing next to him, easily working away on one of the other actors. It was opening night after all, and they could still use all the help they could get. And Tsukishima almost found himself chuckling, since this was probably the real reason Bokuto asked him to do his hair right now.

“Hello Bokuto, Tsukishima.” You would have thought they weren’t even dating at all, with the way Akaashi’s tone and demeanor didn’t change around Bokuto. He treated him the same as always, but that was probably something that was expected of someone like him. He did always have this cool, collected expression on his face, it was only natural that he treated Bokuto the same. Though, the expression on Bokuto’s face on the other hand, seemed to be the opposite.

“Akaashi, after this how about we go grab some ice cream together?” He beamed leaning his head over slightly so he could be closer to Akaashi, making it all the harder for Tsukishima to work on his hair. He couldn’t complain though, something about these two was so disgustingly cute that you couldn’t help but smile at them.

“Sure, sounds like fun. What are you doing after this, Tsukishima?” It wasn’t a rude comment but a bit of a disturbing one.

How could Akaashi just turn his attention onto Tsukishima so easily? Well, it was in his personality to always try to make you feel included, but it took him off guard as he tried to scramble his brain for the words to say.

“Oh, that’s right.” Akaashi corrected himself, like he just remembered something. “You’re leaving after this, aren’t you? To head back to Japan.”

“Tsukki’s leaving?” Bokuto beamed up again, almost jumping out of his chair and turning himself around, he was just about face to face with Tsukishima. It was almost astounding that he hadn’t heard anything about this.

“Suga told you about this, remember, Bokuto? Tsukishima was only going to be here for the school year and now he’s going back home to Japan.” Akaashi seemed like he was almost laughing, he had an amused expression on his face as he was wondering how Bokuto could be so forgetful.

“I know, I just forgot. It sucks though.” Bokuto whined as he slouched back down in his hair, allowing Tsukishima to continue working on his, he reached down for the hair gel to help keep Bokuto’s spikes in place. “We had some fun times this year didn’t we, Tsukishima? Me, you, Akaashi, and Kuroo, that is.” Bokuto laughed, a proud smile on his face as if he was strolling down memory lane.

Akaashi spoke up, a calm expression on his face as he looked at Tsukishima in the mirror. “Speaking of Kuroo, where is he?”

Tsukishima almost jumped at just hearing his name. He didn’t think Bokuto knew what was going on between them, or what could have gone on between them, but Akaashi on the other hand, was a different story. He knew. He was sure he knew, and that subtle glance he gave him in the mirror told him all he needed to know. He wanted to bring up Kuroo on purpose, he wanted to get Tsukishima to see that there was still time for the two of them.

“No idea, probably on a bike ride or something.” Bokuto pouted, shrugging his shoulders, and Tsukishima could feel a twinge of uneasiness in him as Bokuto and Akaashi continued on having this conversation.

“Again?” Akaashi groaned as if he was annoyed, this time his words had no alternative meaning, he was just having a normal conversation. “Hasn’t he been doing that a lot recently? He’s being so reckless. Has something happened?” Akaashi’s expression fell bleak, like he was inconvenienced, well it was the night of the show, after all. And outside of Suga, Akaashi was the one who was second in command when it came to everything here, he probably wanted it to be perfect. If Tsukishima wasn’t clinging to the fact, and hoping that Kuroo might not actually show up right now, he may have expected Akaashi to scold him when he did show up.

Tsukishima knew the answer, of how Kuroo could neglect to show up right now, he was pretty sure Akaashi knew too, but he still couldn’t bring himself to say anything. What would he say anyways? Because no matter how you look at it, this is all his fault.

“No idea.” Bokuto added in, forcing Tsukishima to pull himself out of his thoughts as he listened to him go on and fix his hair. “He hasn’t told me anything. It’s so unlike him, but I guess something did happen, he didn’t start acting like this until last weekend, so something must have happened then. I tried messaging him about it but he said he didn’t want to talk.”

“Is that so? Well, if he’s not telling you, then I guess it’s serious.”

“You think?”

“It has to be, you’ve known him longer than I have, but I just hope he shows up tonight. Oh, which reminds me.” Akaashi turned his head towards Tsukishima, it seemed like what he was about to say was an honest comment, but he still couldn’t doubt the look of certainty in his eyes.

“What is it?” Tsukishima asked, trying not to lead on this whole conversation wasn’t making him feel any better.

It wasn’t really anyone’s fault when you looked at it. He was just a boy and so was Kuroo, they did some flirting over the past few months, kissed a few times, and apparently, both liked each other. If he had more time, Tsukishima probably would have told him how he felt, but he couldn’t, no good would come from it. So he let Kuroo walk away, knowing very well he could have done something about it. It wasn’t his fault. What was he supposed to do? Kuroo shouldn’t expect anything from him, no one should expect anything from him. He was the only one here who didn’t fit in, and everyone should have treated him as such. So then, why did things turn out like this?

“I’ve spoken to Suga, he should be arriving here shortly, but he said you don’t have to be onstage tonight, Kageyama is doing better, so you should be fine.”

“Okay.” Relieved, that’s what he should have been feeling. Tsukishima had been dreading the thought of going up onstage tonight, but the thought never crossed his mind, he didn’t even think about it all since last week, and that was because all he could think about was Kuroo. Even now, he still wanted to see him one last time, even if that meant they weren’t going to say anything to each other at all. He knew he couldn’t let it end like this.

“Hey, Tsukki.” Bokuto spoke up again as Tsukishima put down the hairspray can he just finished putting in Bokuto’s hair. “You don’t know where Kuroo is, do you?”

“Bokuto.” Akaashi butt in, even though he was certain Akaashi was trying to get a reaction out of him, he could still see the sincere look in his eyes, almost apologetic, like he really wished Bokuto wouldn’t have asked something like that. Bokuto could come off as insensitive at times with the comments he made, and he was pretty clueless. It was hard for Tsukishima to still peg Akaashi, but was he trying to considerate of him?

“What? Tsukki and Kuroo spent a lot of time together, so I was just wonderin’.” Bokuto scratched the back of his head, a confused expression on his face as he looked at Akaashi.

Tsukishima felt himself relax his face, almost smirking at the two of them. He didn’t know how to respond to that, he didn’t even know if he should respond to that. Well, truth be told there would be no harm in telling the truth, he hadn’t seen Kuroo since that day, so saying he didn’t know anything wouldn’t be a lie. However, just saying nothing didn’t seem like the kind of thing he could do right now. He knew what Akaashi and everyone else had been telling him, that he had another chance, that it was never too late, but somehow he didn’t quite find that to be true for him. He couldn’t let it go, but he also couldn’t bring himself to say anything about it. It was his fault, and he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

_Slam._

“Sorry to butt in everyone.” Suga walked in, slamming the closed door open to the makeup room as he did so, making Tsukishima almost jump as he was pulled out of his thoughts.

It grabbed everyone’s attention, causing Akaashi, Bokuto, and Tsukishima to look up from what they were doing, both Tsukishima and Akaashi’s hands were both still putting down hairspray and other various things.

It was a rare sight to see Suga in the makeup room like this, normally he just left this sort of thing up to Akaashi, and Tsukishima swore the last time he was even in here was when he had to get him to try on that outfit several weeks ago. What on earth could he want? Well, it was probably something serious, Suga always said he didn’t like butting in on people when they were getting ready, and from the look of exhaustion on his face as he struggled to catch his breath, it was probably something concerning Kuroo.

Suga’s eyes scanned over the room, like he was taking a mental count of everyone who was here. He looked over some of the actors who were in the back, on the other side of the room, getting ready by themselves, and then his eyes ventured over to the front. They looked over at Akaashi, Bokuto, and finally landed on Tsukishima.

He could have sworn all the hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he saw the expression Suga was making when he looked at him. He didn’t even have to say anything for him to know what he was going to say, this was definitely about Kuroo.

“Thank goodness you’re here, Tsukishima.” Suga took a few steps forward, his breath finally catching up to him as he stood only a few feet away from Tsukishima. His eyes had a panicked expression in them, and Tsukishima quickly ran over the possibilities in his head of what was going on here, but everything he thought of was either too overly dramatic or something so minor no one would concern themselves with.

“What is it?” Tsukishima played it off, turning his head to the side so he didn’t have to look at him directly, and giving him that same disinterested expression. For some reason, it was even more alarming to have Suga looking at him from the front, and Akaashi looking at him from the back. Plus, it didn’t help that it felt like all the eyes of everyone in the room were completely on him.

What could he do? And why was everyone looking at him as if he held some kind of key to a missing puzzle here? Tsukishima was just that, Tsukishima. He was a smart, snarky kid, but when it came down to it, he had no real abilities or talents. Kuroo and everyone else here was completely different than him. So, what could he do? What did they want him to do, and what was going on here?

Suga took a deep breath before speaking, and Tsukishima felt that same level of shock overcome him again, the same one he felt when he talked to Kenma a few days ago. It was like the life had been sucked out of him and he finally realized what mistake he just made.

“It’s about Kuroo, I need you to go and see him. We just got a call, he got in a motorcycle crash. He’s in the hospital.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was kind of hard to write for some reason, I don't know, I just kind of struggled with it, since I am trying to wrap up the story. I feel like it still ended up being a little bit on the shorter side, but I still hope you guys like it. I wanted to change up my formula a bit and have Kenma play a little bit of a bigger role in this. I also feel like this chapter ended up being super angsty for some reason, haha.
> 
> Next chapter will be the last story chapter, and chapter 10 will just be the epilogue, and we'll find out if Tsukki and Kuroo finally do something about their feelings for each other. There also may be a sexual scene involved.


	9. Stubborn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima makes his way to the hospital to see how Kuroo is doing, where he then tries to get himself to utter a confession before leaving for Japan.

“What?” Tsukishima looked at Suga in disbelief, a perplexed look falling on his face. Did he hear him right? No, his mind must be playing tricks on him, that’s all. He had been having so many thoughts of Kuroo that his mind now must have just been inserting him into just about every conversation. That was all.

“What’s going on here, Suga?” Akaashi almost mimicked the same words Tsukishima just said, but his voice had that same calm, collected sound. Tsukishima was sure just about everyone in this room could hear their conversation right now, it was like flow of everything had stopped and everyone gathered around to hear what important news Suga had to say.

“No idea.” He shrugged again, he had an apologetic look on his face, like he was saying he was sorry for giving everyone such vague information. His eyes also had a frantic look to them, and Tsukishima guessed that whatever information he had was little, which didn’t seem to help the situation.

“I just got a call from the hospital nearby.” Suga continued, sighing and trying to be as helpful as possible, not taking his eyes off of Tsukishima. “They said someone named ‘Kuroo Tetsurou’ was brought in from a motorcycle crash, and that the theatre was the only place listed in his wallet. They called us, and you need to go Tsukishima-“

“-Why me?” Tsukishima didn’t mean to say it, and he was certain it came off as rude and nothing else. It was like his mind was just saying things without consulting his brain again.

What was happening here? Kuroo was hurt? No, that shouldn’t be possible. Tsukishima was supposed to be leaving in a few hours, he was supposed to put this all behind him and never have to see Kuroo again, never have to feel this pain in his chest again. So why, why was he worried so much, why did he feel this tight pain in his chest, and why did he feel tears swelling in the corners of his eyes.

“Huh? Well it doesn’t have to specifically be you, but you’re the only one who doesn’t need to observe or be in the play, plus, they said when they picked him up he was saying something, mostly it just sounded like gibberish, but they said to them it sounded like he was saying ‘Tsukki’. So that’s why-“

“You should go, Tsukishima.” Akaashi’s voice could be heard from behind him, and Tsukishima felt a light tap on his shoulders.

Tsukishima turned around and was met with something he would describe as a look of encouragement, it was almost like Akaashi was giving him a thumbs up, telling him he could do this. He didn’t know what to do or how to take it, all he could do was give a polite nod and turn back to Suga, who somehow was also giving him the same look, like they both wanted him to do this.

Tsukishima couldn’t quite describe the feeling he had in him right now. Motivation? Maybe determination? No, even he knew it was more like worry and concern. He legitimately cared for Kuroo, he loved all the time they spent together, talking to him, kissing him, and he knew if the very last memory he has of Kuroo was the two of them walking away from each other, almost like they were mad, that it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

He knew that if they were under any other kind of circumstances that there would be nothing stopping him from leaving and going to see him right now, no matter how out of character doing something like that seemed for him. He needed to see him, he needed to make sure he was okay, and he needed to apologize for not saying something back there. It was nobody’s fault, but it was, it was his fault. He needed to say something, to let Kuroo know that he didn’t want to leave, that he wanted to stay with him, and most of all, that he had feelings for him.

Tsukishima knew that he was left with only two options once again. The first one being make up some excuse as to why he didn’t want to see Kuroo, hope someone else would go, and then head back for Japan as if nothing was wrong; the obvious wrong choice. The other was where he goes to see Kuroo, they talk it out, make sure that he’s okay, and then well, who knows. Tsukishima never once thought about if Kuroo was feeling the same things he was feeling right now. Was his chest feeling this tight? Did he feel like he wanted to cry? Was this all his fault? Of course it was, there was no way this wasn’t his fault. Which is why he needed to go, he needed to see Kuroo, he needed to apologize.

He looked at Suga, nodding his head in an almost polite manner, though he knew he didn’t have a choice when it came to this. “I’ll go.”

 

 

 

It was the first time he had been to a hospital in years, Tsukishima almost forgot about the overpowering smell of hand sanitizer as he walked off the elevator. His eyes greeted with wooden walls and floor that looked identical to the last floor he was on, with numbers on plates by each door, and names written on pieces of paper next to them. This had to be the place.

It wasn’t a particularly long walk from the theatre to here, and with the mood he was in, it was more like a sprint than a walk, getting here in no less than ten minutes.

Tsukishima wasn’t really sure what had happened to him. Thinking about this situation logically didn’t seem to help, anyone would probably tell Tsukishima it wasn’t his fault right now, but that wasn’t true. What good would have come out of telling Kuroo how he felt? They would have spent a cute week together, being grossly cute, and then Tsukishima would have gone back to Japan and everything would have been over. Sure, there would always be the possibility that they stayed in touch, that they went to visit each other, that Kuroo could have gotten a job in Japan, or Tsukishima could have moved back to New York after he graduated. But who’s to say that would have worked?

To be fair, Tsukishima probably wouldn’t have even come to a place like this right now. What was he even going to say? ‘I’m sorry for not saying something back there?’. That felt really out of character for him, and what would Kuroo even do? Would he even be awake right now? Ugh, he was such a mess, and it was all Kuroo’s fault. He was changing, he didn’t know what to do with himself anymore, and it was all thanks to a certain bedhead.

On his way up here, Tsukishima stopped by the front desk on the main floor, asking the nurse who was in charge where Kuroo’s room was. After giving him a slightly strange look, the kind of look he was used to getting as a foreigner, she told him it was on the top floor of the western building, meaning Tsukishima had to walk a lot more to get here. Riding at least two elevators, and climbing one flight of stairs, but he was here, dammit. She gave him a name sticker that he had to write his name on to show he was a visitor here, and then he was on his way, continuing with that almost sprint-like speed until he got where he is now.

“Tetsurou Kuroo.” Tsukishima read the name written on the piece of paper outside the door, he didn’t even bother to look to see if the room was unlocked or not. Well, it was almost eight o’clock at night, most of the immediate staff was probably not working, and those who were, were probably only working on absolute emergencies, so he should be fine.

Tsukishima didn’t even know if Kuroo would want to see him right now, the thought never crossed his mind until now. He could walk in there, Kuroo could be awake, and he could take one look at Tsukishima and the terrible expression on his face and tell him to leave. He had been crying, there was no doubt about that, he knew all the employees could see his puffy red eyes and teared streamed cheeks, even the sniffing noises he was making made it obvious. Though, this was a hospital so they were probably used to people crying, and it wasn’t like a few strange looks were going to get Tsukishima to leave right about now. He needed to see him.

Tsukishima hesitantly turned the silver doorknob to the door, thinking that this was probably the first time in his life that he willingly went after somebody like this. He was stubborn, he knew that much about himself because he would hear it all the time from people, and it was even more true when you consider him taking on this job. He didn’t want to quit it because he was stubborn and wanted to prove people wrong. And even now, he was stubborn to want to see Kuroo again, he didn’t know why, closure, he guessed was the only reason. Kind of like how people say you should never go to bed mad. Tsukishima still didn’t know why he came here right now, but here he was, stubbornness and all.

To some extent, you could say Tsukishima had changed over the past several months of being here, he had been surrounded by people who were so different than him, people that were outgoing, had interesting and unique personalities, people that were theatrical, for lack of a better word. It only made sense that their personalities would rub off on him, that he would change a bit, and no one caused him to change more than Kuroo.

Tsukishima came here knowing he would probably not be well liked by most of his peers, he had a hard personality, and didn’t go out of his way to make friends, he thought it would be a miracle if he even found someone he could talk to here, but he did. Kuroo changed him. Kuroo taught him how to express emotion through acting, feel things, and he even became considerate of him. Tsukishima had never opened up to people before, Kuroo was the first person he told about his food allergy, other than Yamaguchi, and Kuroo was the first person he felt like had ever really cared about him besides Yamaguchi. He may be getting incredibly mushy and sentimental right now, but maybe he was starting to become like the people he had been hanging around; theatrical.

“Kuroo…” Tsukishima spoke softly as he finally fully opened the door, stepping inside.

The room was just like you would imagine, a small basic hospital room. A small area with a chair and a table sat over by the closed windows, the blinds only letting a small amount of light seep through. A TV was mounted on the wall, the volume was turned down, but it was showing whatever highlight reel of a basketball game that just finished, it didn’t seem like anyone was paying any attention to it.

There was also a sink and a door to a closed bathroom off on the far wall, and an alarm clock sitting next to the bed, the time kept flashing 8:37, making Tsukishima fully aware of just how much time had passed. He had been counting the seconds on that incredibly long elevator ride, but that wasn’t why he was here.

The bed.

Tsukishima looked towards the bed, half expecting Kuroo to not be there, maybe he would have been relieved if that were the case. It would have meant all of this would have been pointless, and that the two of them really were never meant to be together, that he never should have come here to begin with, but that wasn’t the case.

It took him a minute before he noticed it, the room was pretty dark from the dim lighting from outside and from the TV, but there he was. His bedhead almost seemed like a silhouette of a shadow, as he turned his head towards the door that Tsukishima shut behind him. He saw that instant expression on his face, the one that was in shock and disbelief, the one that told Tsukishima this was all very real and that there was no use going back now.

“Tsukki…” Kuroo seemed like he didn’t know what to say. Not that Tsukishima could blame him, he wouldn’t know what to do if the situation had been reversed like this. He probably would have had the same reaction, and even now, Tsukishima couldn’t tell if he was happy to see him or not. “I thought you left.”

“I changed my mind.” Tsukishima was forced to turn his head to the side, even he knew if he looked at him for too long that he would break down in tears once again, he didn’t think it was possible for someone to actually cry this much, but that didn’t stop him from still making his way hesitantly over towards Kuroo’s bedside. The sounds of his footsteps almost seemed to haunt him as he continued. “Suga told me you got into an accident? Are you injured?”

He couldn’t blame Kuroo for not wanting to talk to him, hell, Tsukishima probably wouldn’t even want to talk to him if that were the case, but there was still hope. Tsukishima was still hoping that maybe Kuroo would say something, he would speak or maybe crack a joke. It was a lot like how earlier in the year he would hope that Kuroo would walk him home, and that Kuroo would make a pass at him at work. It sounded cliché, and Tsukishima wasn’t one for making people believe in things like this, but it was either that or walk out right now, and for some reason that option seemed a bit too tiring for him considering how many elevators he had to take to get here.

“Huh? Oh yeah.” Kuroo blinked his eyes a few times, like he wasn’t expecting a question like that. He probably wasn’t expecting to see Tsukishima at all, if he had to guess. “It was just a sprain, I can walk and everything, they just want me to stay here a couple of days to go easy on my back. There was some blood and scrapes, but they got that cleaned up so I should be fine. My arms hurt a bit, though.”

It was almost relieving for Tsukishima to see that Kuroo was acting like himself, his voice sounded just like it always had, but that still didn’t stop the uneasy feeling in his stomach when he got a closer look at Kuroo’s body. His arms seemed fine, but upon looking at them closer Tsukishima could make out some redness by his elbows, they looked rough as Kuroo hesitantly moved his weight forward, adjusting himself in his bed as he continued to look at Tsukishima.

“Why are you here, Tsukki? I thought you-“ Tsukishima could recognize this speech pattern, as Kuroo repeated a question he had asked him earlier, and Tsukishima could feel his whole body tense up, realizing now that he had to come to terms with what he actually was going to say next.

“No reason, Suga told me you got into a crash, and told me I should come to make sure you’re alright. Everyone else does need to be there for the play, after all.” Lies.

Was it really that hard to tell him he came because he was worried about him? Because he wanted to see him, and apologize for what he did? It didn’t sound so difficult on the way over here, but now Tsukishima was having a difficult time forming the correct words. This was the problem he always had, he knew what he wanted to say, but couldn’t say it right, so he wouldn’t say anything at all. Was this too going to just be like all the other times?

“Oh, okay then…” Something about Kuroo seemed disappointed, but not angry.

Kuroo looked down, no longer looking at Tsukishima and just looking at the white blanket that covered up the lower half of his body. And Tsukishima could feel that part in his brain telling him if he didn’t say something now, that it truly would be the end, he did still have time to make it to the airport, after all.

“Listen, Kuroo. That’s not… I….” Tsukishima was trying, he was trying to say the words that he really wanted to say. That he was sorry and that he doesn’t like getting attached to people, but that he got attached to him. He’s not good at dealing with emotions, so he just runs away from them, thinking that would be better. It was a terrible excuse, but any excuse was better than having no excuse.

“Tsukki!” Kuroo almost cut him off, turning his head up in one swift motion, and Tsukishima swore the two of them were mimicking the same expression, tears. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault this happened. I was upset that you were leaving, but didn’t want to do anything to stop you. I mean, I couldn’t do anything, right? This is sort of out of our control.” Kuroo laughed, it almost had a sincere sound to it, like he was saying it was a pathetic excuse, and that’s when the words finally started to flow out.

“I’m sorry.” Kuroo repeated himself again, not giving Tsukishima a chance to speak. “I’m so sorry, Tsukki. I know you’re probably mad at me for leaving you like I did the other day, but I… I just…I’m sorry.” Kuroo didn’t even try to hide the tears that were streaming down his face like rivers, and Tsukishima couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded as he just stood there. He came all this way to apologize to Kuroo, and yet Kuroo was the one apologizing to him. It was a strange feeling, and somehow Tsukishima didn’t know what else to do other than talk.

“Why are you apologizing? It was my fault and I…” Tsukishima forced himself to down whatever lump was forming in his throat, making himself finally ask him the question he had wanted to ask him since the day the two of them first kissed. “Do you like me, Kuroo?”

“Do I like you? What do yo-“

Tsukishima cut him off, he knew he needed to explain himself, and his tone and face right now almost looked like he was scolding him.

“We’ve been kissing each other ever since the first week I got here, you cook for me and you’re over at my house more than I am, even Kenma knows, and he-“ Tsukishima was going to say Kenma told him that Kuroo liked him, which somehow didn’t make having this conversation any easier, if anything, it made it harder because Tsukishima needed to choose his words carefully.

Saying he was flustered was a bit of an understatement. Normally when most people are flustered they can’t speak and can’t say the words they want to say, it was the opposite now for Tsukishima. He could say exactly what he wanted to say, almost to the point where it was too much. It was like all of those bottled up feelings made their way up to the surface and Tsukishima was exploding with his feelings right now. He couldn’t stop it, just like he couldn’t stop the hot feel as his face turned redder and redder by the second, and he couldn’t stop the waterfalls from pouring down his face, which somehow seemed to cool off his already hot temperature.

“Did you talk to Kenma, Tsukki?” Kuroo asked, widening his eyes in astonishment. “Maybe I’m getting this wrong, but do you like me too, Tsukki?”

Tsukishima wanted to yell at him right now and told him of course he talked to Kenma. What else was he supposed to do when Kuroo pretty much ceased to contact everyone for a full week? If he was legitimately worried about him, who else was he supposed to go to? But he couldn’t say it.

That last part that Kuroo said was what distracted him the most. ‘Did he like him too?’. What was he implying? Well, Tsukishima had a pretty good idea of what he was implying, but for some reason his mind had a hard time getting a grasp around it. Was something like this really this easy?

Tsukishima clicked his tongue in response, almost scowling as all those feelings still continued to come out.

“Do you think I would have shown up right now if I didn’t like you?” It seemed like such a melodramatic response, almost sarcastic as Tsukishima fought to hold back a smirk, but then again maybe it was better that way.

Tsukishima found it hard to envision himself making any kind of confession like this, let alone one that was so earnest and sentimental. Tsukishima wasn’t a sentimental type of guy and this showed it, but that still didn’t stop him from repeating his already asked question.

“Are you saying you like me too, Kuroo?”

“Of course I did.” Kuroo turned his head to the side, acting as if he was now the embarrassed one, but he still continued, turning his head back to face Tsukishima, with an almost embarrassed expression on his face, the tears finally stopping. “I’ve liked you since the moments you hit on me on the first night.”

“Do you have to mention that-“ Tsukishima flinched back with discomfiture, not wanting to recall something that he deemed to be one of the more regrettable things he did while he was over here. Though, if it was the thing that got Kuroo’s attention, maybe it wasn’t so bad then.

“I’ve always liked you.” Kuroo interrupted him, forcing Tsukishima to focus on his words alone. “I just waited for you. You said you didn’t want to date anyone while you were over here, so I waited for you. I waited for you to decide that you wanted to date someone. I waited for you, Kei.”

Tsukishima froze in place, hearing his first name roll off of Kuroo’s tongue like that unexpectedly was something he didn’t account for, but that wasn’t the reason he was so surprised right now. Kuroo waited for him? What did that even mean? Well, he knew what it meant, it meant that Kuroo was a far better person than he was. Was it even possible for someone to be this perfect? He liked him all along? He just didn’t want to ask him out because he knew Tsukishima didn’t want it at the time. How could he be so considerate?

“Kuroo, I…” Tsukishima didn’t know what to say, his body moved forward on its own and he moved to kiss him, their lips met and it was an intoxicating and enticing taste that he hadn’t felt in so long.

Kuroo’s lips tasted like nothing, free of the chap stick and lip balm he would frequent when at the theatre, but Tsukishima could still feel his saliva as Kuroo pulled him closer. His arms wrapped around his waist and Tsukishima could easily feel his muscular arms pressing against him through his thin white shirt.

He was now sitting with Kuroo on the small surface of the hospital bed, feeling the material of the soft blanket underneath them.

Tsukishima curled one of his hands against the sheets to stable himself, letting his other move to freely entangle in that impossible bedhead.

Kuroo kissed him again as he held him close, wrapping his arms around Tsukishima’s back and holding him. He thought for a minute that he heard Kuroo groan slightly, not in the sexual way but in the painful way, causing him to stop and free his hand from the soft almost fur-like texture he was just touching.

“It’s fine, really.” He spoke, probably catching the sense of concern in Tsukishima’s eyes. He went back to kissing him as his lips touched Tsukishima’s neck.

He tilted his head back slightly, giving Kuroo all the more room to kiss and nip at the available pale flesh that was before him. He wasn’t quite sure, since the extent of their kissing had only been on the lips before, but Tsukishima was certain he felt a tongue in there too. Kuroo’s tongue licking over his skin and sending a shiver down his spine, making him arch his back, giving Kuroo all the more room. Was kissing supposed to feel this good? Well, saying it was just kissing was a bit of a stretch. Tsukishima knew the difference between kissing and what this was going to eventually lead to. He wasn’t an idiot, and for some reason he was starting to look forward to the idea of Kuroo and him continuing to do this. He wanted him to kiss every inch of him, and kiss every inch of Kuroo as well.

Tsukishima tilted his head up when he felt Kuroo’s mouth start to venture down to his collar bone, one of his hands slowly stretching the collar of his shirt to give him more room. He opened his eyes and turned his head towards the left, looking towards the door.

For a moment he wondered if this was a good idea, to do what they were doing. It was a hospital room and even though there was some privacy, it wasn’t like the dorms, these doors didn’t fully lock. Even though it was late, there was still the slight possibility of one of the nurses walking in here and seeing them like this. Hell, Tsukishima wasn’t even sure if guests were allowed to be here past this hour. He knew there was a high chance that the staff wouldn’t come in here, but he still couldn’t shake the somewhat worried thought from his mind.

Kuroo didn’t say anything, but he brought his eyes forward, being eye level with Tsukishima. He brought his lips back up to his with another gentle kiss, and succeeded in pushing him further down onto the bed. He didn’t have to say anything because he knew Kuroo was telling him he had nothing to worry about, and for some reason he believed him, letting him continue what he was doing.

Kuroo entangled one of his hands with Tsukishima’s, it felt almost as if the two were holding hands, and he swore his heart was going to burst from how great it felt. Why was it getting so hot in here all of a sudden?

Kuroo placed his other hand on Tsukishima’s back and he could slowly feel his fingers running down his spine in the slowest and most enticing way possible. The shirt was so thin that he swore he could even feel Kuroo’s nails as he did it, making his body start to tremble and his breath turn heavy. He struggled to say anything as Kuroo moved his hand down to the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head.

“Whoo.” Kuroo whistled, his eyes almost had a drunken haze to them as he ran his hands over Tsukishima’s exposed, pale chest. His fingers almost tickled against his skin as he paid specifically close attention to his stomach.

“You’ve seen my chest before, why are you-“ Tsukishima’s face was beat red as he tried to control a groan that was just on the tip of his tongue. He had no intention of finishing that sentence, but more so, he had no intention of going down memory lane. He didn’t mean to send a subtle flashback in his mind of when he was trying on his outfit with Kuroo, Akaashi, and Yamaguchi. However, thinking of that didn’t seem to falter his reaction in the least bit.

“It’s okay, Tsukki. Don’t be nervous, I need to make sure you’re feeling good too.” Kuroo cooed and he placed another subtle kiss along Tsukishima’s jawline, making him forget all about whatever quip he was going to say next.

“Mhm.” Tsukishima moaned slightly, instantly picking up on the unfamiliar noise when Kuroo kissed and bit down on the open space between his neck and shoulders. He swiftly moved his free hand up to his mouth to try to muffle whatever other noises were about to come out.

“Does it feel good, Tsukki? Tell me where feels good.” Kuroo teased, almost like he wanted him to beg as he removed Tsukishima’s hand from his mouth, and Tsukishima didn’t even need to look at him to know what kind of face he was making.

Tsukishima had half a mind to actually tell him where to keep kissing him, but a thought crossed his mind instead. He wasn’t doing anything. He was just sitting here, letting Kuroo touch and make noises. Sure, he wasn’t the most experienced when it came to something like this, but even he knew he shouldn’t just sit here. He needed to make Kuroo feel good too.

“Kuroo, let me do it to you too.” Tsukishima almost lunged forward, feeling a new wave of confidence rise over him. He placed a gentle kiss along Kuroo’s neck, trying to mimic the same touch and feel that Kuroo did to him. Kuroo had an almost expansive smile on his face as he did so, like he was amused or found it cute, and Tsukishima wasn’t sure if that should be considered a compliment or not.

“Are you feeling that good, Tsukki? Well then…” Kuroo kept that same expression on his face, letting Tsukishima do what he wanted. He didn’t make any of the noises or expressions Tsukishima was making a few moments ago, but he seemed happy nonetheless, and that gave Tsukishima the courage to continue on.

Kuroo let go of him and Tsukishima could see him fiddling with something behind his back as his head rested against the wall of the room. He gave Tsukishima a subtle nod to keep going as he began sucking a small spot on the nape of his neck. His wasn’t sure whose body heat he was feeling more, his or Kuroo’s, but the way his tongue lightly licked over Kuroo’s hot skin, and the way Kuroo let out a subtle moan, whether it was intentional or not, seemed to make his face heat up more.

Tsukishima was leaning forward with most of his weight put onto his knees and legs. He was still wearing his jeans and he could feel Kuroo place one of his hands on his butt, almost like he was caressing him and pushing him forward. Tsukishima swore he was starting to sweat as he moved down to kiss Kuroo’s collarbone, he only got distracted when he saw Kuroo pull off his hospital robe.

“Kuroo-“ Tsukishima gasped, this was probably the first time he saw Kuroo shirtless like this, or the first time he intentionally looked. He didn’t notice how toned and tanned he was, and he didn’t notice the way that his abs almost seemed to taunt him with how perfect they were. It was almost like it should be illegal.

“Hm? Are you turned on, Tsukki?” Kuroo asked, in that same cooing and provoking voice he had heard before. Kuroo still kept the blanket from the hospital bed on his lower half, and Tsukishima felt him start to run his hands over his back once again, coaxing him into saying something as his fingers traced circles over his skin.

It took Tsukishima a second to put the pieces together of why he was feeling so hot, but once he did, both that and Kuroo’s expression became clear to him.

Tsukishima wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to go about this quickly or slowly, but considering their environment, it may be better for it to be quickly. With that in mind, Tsukishima quickly undid the zipper on his pants, pulling them off and letting them hit the floor with the rest of their clothes. Kuroo gave him a smile of satisfaction as Tsukishima dipped his head down to lick along Kuroo’s chest some more.

He wanted to ask Kuroo if he was doing this right, with the way he trailed his tongue down the center of his chest and moved it upward and over to the left side to lap over one of his nipples. He tried to do it slowly, and the skin almost felt peculiar in his mouth, like something he had never tasted before. He brought his eyes up to look at Kuroo, like he was asking him if he was doing it right. In response, Kuroo chuckled, wrapping his hand around the back of Tsukishima’s head, pulling him up. He could see a small trail of saliva leave his tongue as he did so.

“Here, I’ll show you.” Kuroo smirked, instantly pushing Tsukishima back down on the bed. Tsukishima was lying on his back and putting most of his weight on his elbows now, eagerly awaiting what Kuroo was going to do.

Kuroo went slowly, blowing some cool air on Tsukishima’s chest before he began. He was probably well aware of just how good Tsukishima was feeling right now, how hot he was, and how his body was trembling from head to toe, it was almost as if he was teasing him.

He licked his tongue over one of Tsukishima’s nipples, going slowly over the delicate skin and making Tsukishima arch his back into him in the process. He wanted to do so many things right now, he wanted to call out his name and tell him how good he felt, he wanted to touch him, and kiss, and feel him in every way possible, but he also wanted to make him feel good.

He brought his face down to look at Kuroo, knowing there had to be an embarrassed expression on his face as he tried to conceal his voice. Kuroo looked back up at him, grinning, and winking at him, as if he knew exactly what he was doing and how great Tsukishima felt right now. He wanted him to enjoy this, and Tsukishima was determined to have Kuroo enjoy this too.

Kuroo popped his head up, moving over to Tsukishima’s other nipple, a wet, slimy trail of saliva being left all over his chest as he did so, and Kuroo didn’t cease to make the most embarrassing noises as he continued on.

Tsukishima swore he could feel his legs start shaking again as Kuroo reached down with his other hand, palming the exposed area _down there_ in-between his two legs. Fuck. Was foreplay supposed to feel this good? Kuroo must have thought so, because he licked a trail straight down from his chest to his stomach, making Tsukishima arch himself even further into him, giving Kuroo all the more room.

His whole body was hot and wet, and he was certain he would die from how good it felt if he didn’t do something soon. He was a panting mess, he couldn’t even speak, and he was certain the worst expression was on his face right now. This was a disaster.

“Are you feeling good, Tsukki? You taste so good.” Kuroo leaned up, smirking, and placing another kiss on Tsukishima’s lips. His hair fell in front of his face, and Tsukishima was sure he could feel it tickling his chest. Must he say such embarrassing things right now?

“Kuroo, can we just do it?” Tsukishima didn’t like how he sounded like he was begging, and he knew there had to be a desperate expression on his face, but he didn’t want to do anything to change it.

Kuroo gave him a look, it was a subtle smirk with an expression of ‘are you sure you’re ready?’ on his face. All Tsukishima could do was nod in response as Kuroo leaned over and pulled something out of a bag that was by the alarm clock on the small nightstand.

“Why do you have that?” Tsukishima asked, leaning up slightly and raising an eyebrow in somewhat confusion. Though, aggravation may have been a better word for it.

“They let me keep my bag when they brought me here.” Kuroo hummed lightly, waving the small white tube in the air, like he was showing it off. “I always ‘come’ prepared, Tsukki.”

“Did you really have to say that?” Tsukishima rolled his eyes. Of course, he would choose wording like that, Kuroo wasn’t the kind of person who was above making terrible jokes, and that was true even in a situation like this. He didn’t bother asking him what else he had in that bag.

“Hm.” Kuroo hummed again, dismissing Tsukishima’s comment, not that there was any way he could have realistically responded to it without making another joke. “I may be kind of pent up, Tsukki. I’ve wanted to do this with you a lot, since the day I met you.” Something about him seemed almost sincere, which was hard to believe considering what it is they were talking about right now.

Tsukishima had a hard time trying to conceal what normally would have been a disgusted face with a comment like that. Maybe he was just being slightly immature, but he couldn’t help but laugh right now. Was it because he wanted to laugh, or was it because Kuroo was actually this funny right now? It was like he wanted to laugh at just about everything he said, it was almost endearing.

“It’ll be cold, can you handle it?” Kuroo asked, it was like it was his final warning, like Kuroo was saying they would actually do the thing both of them wanted to do right now, and if Tsukishima had any second thoughts, right now would be the time to speak about them.

“Nothing I can’t handle.” Tsukishima kept his comments vague, and he removed his boxers slowly, throwing them onto the floor as he watched Kuroo open the tube and put some of it onto his fingers. Kuroo had a glint in his eyes as he examined over his body one more time.

He felt cold and embarrassed, but somehow any of those thoughts vanished within a matter of seconds, like he no longer cared about those things, which was weird considering how Tsukishima always hated feeling vulnerable like this.

Kuroo licked his lips as he pulled Tsukishima closer, placing the two of them in a similar position to the one they were in a few moments ago, except this time Tsukishima was the one who was sitting with his head leaning against the wall, as Kuroo practically sat on top of him, in his lap. He moved and grabbed Tsukishima’s legs with his free hand, pulling them both over his shoulders as he took a few extra seconds to admire the pale and tender flesh, tracing his fingernails along the inside of his thighs. Tsukishima shivered as Kuroo bent down and kissed his inner thighs once before starting. He didn’t have time to ask him, but he was getting the sense that Kuroo had a thing for legs.

“Did I mention how much I love your legs before?” Kuroo winked, stopping in place and giving Tsukishima a certain look of mischievous, using his tongue to lick an icy, slippery trail down Tsukishima’s inner thigh, making him almost wince to the touch.

“N-no.” It wasn’t even possible for him to form a response right now, and he could see his legs almost shaking against Kuroo as he continued to suck along the surface of his skin for what felt like several minutes, and there was no doubt several bites were in there too, making Tsukishima feel all the more fragile.

“Hm? What’s wrong, are you shy?” Kuroo asked, that same coy smirk on his face as he rested his chin on Tsukishima’s lower stomach, planting a gentle kiss on him down there.

“J-just do it, Kuroo.” Tsukishima’s breath and voice were shaky, and he had to force himself to look away, even he knew he couldn’t look at Kuroo with a straight face in a moment like this.

“Awh, come on, you can beg better than that, Tsukki.” He teased, provoking as always, and his voice sounded half sincere and half cynical. “Tell me what you want me to do, and I can make you feel _so_ good.” Well how could he say no to something like that?

In a way, Kuroo almost seemed cute right now, maybe it was just the red look on his face, but Tsukishima found himself willing to agree to just about everything he said, for better or for worse.

He knew it would be cold, but saying it was cold was an understatement, his body kept that same shivering and trembling feeling as he grit his teeth, and he could feel his leg muscles tighten around Kuroo’s shoulder as he struggled to keep his voice down. It wasn’t so much the coldness that was the problem though, it was the fingers.

To say Tsukishima’s body was sensitive was also a bit of an understatement, maybe it was just because Kuroo was really good at this from his past experiences, or Tsukishima’s body was more fragile than he thought, but he couldn’t quite describe how it felt.

“It’ll take a minute, but then I promise it will start feeling good.” Kuroo reassured him, he could probably sense the slight discomfort on Tsukishima’s face, which somehow relieved him.

He gave him a few more minutes, realizing it probably feels like this for everyone at first, and Tsukishima couldn’t help but feel Kuroo stretching him more and more. When he looked at him, he couldn’t help but notice the look of concentration on his face, and Tsukishima decided to cease this opportunity by reaching out and touching Kuroo’s head. He had spent the past several months doing whatever he could to get close to him, and now he finally had him, he didn’t want to waste an opportunity like this.

It took him by surprise, and Kuroo returned him with that same almost love-struck grin on his face, both of their faces mimicking a similar shade of red.

“Are you feeling good, Tsukki? Can I.. you know?” Kuroo didn’t say exactly what they were about to do, and for some reason Tsukishima was thankful for that. There was something about saying something like this that just felt gross to Tsukishima, maybe it was just because of all of the noises that were implied while doing this, but it never set right with him.

“Just do it.” Tsukishima repeated himself with a bit more force this time, it felt almost demanding, but that did sort of fit the mood, but Kuroo seemed almost too happy to oblige as he reached over onto that same nightstand and pulled out a condom, Tsukishima didn’t bother to notice when he put it on, but he did notice when things got to the next step further.

Kuroo was gentle, which was something Tsukishima didn’t expect. He was slow and for some reason not as serious as he expected either. Of course, that didn’t stop either one of them from enjoying it.

“Tsukki, tell me where feels good.” Kuroo was asking him more than anything else, and for some reason it seemed too polite for Kuroo, like he was hard to imagine him doing something that wasn’t rough, but Tsukishima seemed to like it better that way.

Kuroo kept his eyes shut and his hands both rubbing Tsukishima’s thighs, like he was egging him on. Tsukishima didn’t really need the extra physical support, considering he was already against the wall, but he would take it.

Tsukishima leaned forward, like he now truly was sitting on Kuroo’s lap, hugging him in an embrace as he dug his nails into the back of his skin, bringing one of his hands up to continue concealing his voice. He felt Kuroo roll his hips into him, which only made Tsukishima feel more and more like his body was on fire as he struggled to keep himself composed. He could feel Kuroo hitting the deepest part of his insides, and he swore something like this should not feel this good.

“Mhm.” A small groan managed to escape Tsukishima’s lips when he felt Kuroo press against a certain spot within him. As he began slowly thrusting his hips with Kuroo. It was almost as if his body started moving on its own, and Tsukishima didn’t know what to do with himself.

Kuroo continued to be persistent when it came to kissing along Tsukishima’s neck, sucking and surely leaving marks on every inch of open skin he could find, and Tsukishima doing the same with his nails. He wasn’t an expert, but even Tsukishima knew that he wouldn’t last out much longer.

“Your voice is so cute, Tsukki.” Kuroo cooed, still never ceasing to tease him, even in a moment like this. “Are you close? Tell me where feels good.” Kuroo asked the obvious question as Tsukishima all but bit down on his shoulder to stop himself from screaming.

“Feels r-really good.” Tsukishima’s voice was muffled, but he was sure Kuroo could still hear him, with something as embarrassing as that, there was no way he couldn’t hear him.

Kuroo was actually a pretty smart guy, and really good at figuring things out, it was no surprise that he picked up on which spot made Tsukishima feel this way, even with that vague of a response in a situation like this.

Tsukishima felt like he was a wreck from head to toe, that was obvious even without seeing him, but that didn’t stop him from trying to conceal whatever he was feeling right now. He tried his best to maintain his hip thrusts with the same time as Kuroo, but it felt like everything started to feel sloppy. Of course, that still didn’t stop Tsukishima from feeling great, his whole body was on fire and he had never quite experienced pleasure quite like this before, and from the look on his face, Kuroo was feeling the same.

“Kuroo, I-“ Tsukishima took a deep breath and felt Kuroo’s name leave his voice before he even had time to think, he knew what was coming, and so did Kuroo.

 

 

 

“Don’t you have a plane to catch?” Kuroo spoke softly, almost comforting in what felt like hours having passed since he arrived here, since the two of them had finished.

The two of them laid side by side on the small hospital bed, feeling so close that their bodies couldn’t help but be joined together once again. Tsukishima’s breath finally slowed back down to a normal pace, but his face and body still felt hot and sweaty as he felt the soothing touch of Kuroo stroke his face.

The two were so close it felt like they were conjoined, like a giant ball of heat and comfort, Tsukishima couldn’t help but wrap his arms around him and bring his head up to his chest. He thought for a moment he could hear his heartbeat, he figured he was probably seconds away from falling asleep, and his body felt just as sore as he had imagined it would, but he didn’t have the mental energy to talk about or even relive the events that just happened.

“Do you honestly think I’m going back after all this?” He groaned, and he found himself wishing that Kuroo would stop talking so he could fall asleep. Even after something as great as tonight he still found himself growing annoyed by the lack of silence.

“So what?” Kuroo pried, a provoking smile on his face as he looked at him with that same smirk. “You gonna drop out of school and join the theatre with me? I wouldn’t mind, you know?”

“As enticing of an offer as that sounds, I’ll go back, just not now. Summer is coming up and I’ve still got one year left of school. I haven’t talked it out with any of the people at school yet, but if I became interested in staying here for another year, would you let me?” Maybe it wasn’t that he wasn’t in a talkative mood, but that he only wanted to talk about certain things. Just like with everything else, Tsukishima already made up his mind, he wasn’t going back to Japan, at least not permanently. He was going to spend as much time with Kuroo as he could, even if that meant staying here longer than anticipated.

“Of course I would.” Kuroo smiled, almost seeming too happy right now as he kissed him on top of his forehead, and Tsukishima was finding it hard to contain a warm smile that appeared on his face.

“Hm. But I’ve got so many bites and marks from you, I think it’ll take weeks for them go away.” Kuroo added, instantly changing the subject and making that warm smile turn into an eye roll.

“Can you not say such cringe worthy things?” Tsukishima didn’t have the mental energy to be annoyed, but he still couldn’t hide the ‘did you really just say that?’ expression on his face. Why did he have to be like this?

“But it’s cute, Kei.” Kuroo whispered his first name as if he was telling him a secret, and Tsukishima couldn’t be mad at him. Somewhere between having sex and where they were now, he realized that he didn’t mind Kuroo calling him that, and him calling Kuroo ‘Tetsurou’, if anything, he embraced it, just like how he willingly embraced just about anything that came out of Kuroo’s mouth now.

“Hey Kei. Stay the night. Sleep with me like this.”

It was a terrible idea in every sense of the way, and Tsukishima could think of at least ten reasons why he should say no. The bed was small, if he didn’t get up early enough the nurses would find out, and he still needed to call administration to tell them he wouldn’t be coming back so soon. Not to mention he still needed to tell Yamaguchi not to wait for him at the airport. But he couldn’t. Again, it was probably because of the lack of mental energy thing, but he couldn’t think of a single reason to turn him down. Maybe he was just too comfortable, but Tsukishima felt like he could stay like this forever, and there was nothing to stop him.

“Okay.” He breathed out, as quietly as ever, for a moment he thought Kuroo may not have even heard it. Though, he soon realized he did after he planted another delicate kiss on his lips.

“I love you, Kei.” He smiled, still lightly caressing the side of his face, and Tsukishima couldn’t help but think of how his hands were so soft. He really wasn’t left with any other choice but to say something back at him, not that that was a complaint, of course.

“And I love you too, Tetsurou.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we finally arrive at the sex scene, which took up half of this chapter. A while back someone told me that they wished I wrote more graphic sexual scenes, so I decided to challenge myself and write a bit more than I normally do. I hope it's not too graphic, but I felt like it was almost a fitting way to end out the story.  
> This is the last story chapter of this and the next chapter is just going to be the epilogue. I will try to get it out soon, since it'll be a lot shorter, but I always seem to have the hardest time writing epilogues for some reason, haha.  
> Thank you guys so much for your support on this story, it has been really fun to write, and I'm honestly amazed that as many of you liked this as you did. :)  
> Now I'm just going to go hide after spending the past several hours writing nothing but sex.


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima returns to New York after visiting Japan, where he is greeted with Bokuto, Akaashi, and Kuroo at the airport.

_Three months later._

 

“Tsukki! I missed you!” Bokuto yelled, opening his arms wide as Tsukishima stepped into view at the airport, his eyes feeling fuzzy from the long flight. It was hard to mistake that this was the wrong place with a sight like that greeting you.

It had been a long flight, or at least, what felt like a long flight, with Tsukishima comfortably putting is headphones in and dozing off for the majority of it, it was hard to tell. It was about the fourth time he had been on a flight like this, after all, and despite how used he should be to the trip, when you’re surrounded by a family with screaming and crying kids for several hours, you’d be amazed at just how well time blurs together.

He was making his way to grab the remainder of the rest of his luggage, he had only let it slip in a group chat about what time he would be leaving and arriving here, but he didn’t expect all of them to show up.

In a way, it was the usual people who came up to see him when he made his way closer to them. It was almost hard pushing his way past the large groups of people who were being greeted and hugged as they were reunited with their families. He saw the smiling face of Bokuto, the stern, yet caring grin of Akaashi, and of course, the joyous expression from Kuroo. they could be together again, after all of the hardships they had went through these past few months, they could finally be together. It almost didn’t feel real.

Tsukishima worked it all out with his university back in Japan, they extended his contract, so to speak, and he could spend his last year of his college life going to any of their sister schools in other countries. Of course, it was obvious which school he was going to, the one in New York. It wasn’t even a question by this point, ever since the end of last semester came Tsukishima became determined to find a way to see Kuroo again. Fortunately, everything worked out for the better this time, he just needed to have an intense conversation with a guidance counselor, but other than that it was a piece of cake. Though, for him it wasn’t so much about them saying yes or no, it was about seeing Kuroo again.

It was almost impossible to believe that what happened between the two of them actually happened, that the two of them had pretty much felt the same way about each other since they met, but they were both so stubborn that they were just hiding their feelings, and they both went through a lot of heartache because of it. It was almost laughable at how pathetic they both were.

Right now was a completely different feeling than all of that heartache though, he still wasn’t much for showing his feelings, but as he walked forward and planted a light kiss on Kuroo’s cheek, you could say that he was happy, happy that were together, and happy that he could spend his last year with him. They would deal with everything else after that.

“Hello, Tsukishima.” Akaashi was the first to speak as he stood face to face with them all. It looked like Akaashi was wearing one of Bokuto’s over-sized university sweaters, making him and Bokuto match, and Kuroo was wearing his usual bright red t-shirt that he would wear for theatre practices. It felt so long since he had seen them face to face, since in Japan they could only talk with text and video chat.

“Hello Akaashi, Bokuto, Kuroo.” Tsukishima nodded to each of them, almost like he was too friendly as he felt Kuroo put an arm around his waist.

“Hey now, you don’t have to be so polite, you’ll be with us for the next year, Tsukki.” Bokuto looped an arm around his side, pulling Tsukishima closer as he took him off guard, he almost forgot how over the top his personality really could be.

“So, does that mean you’ve got everything worked out then?” Akaashi added in, distracting Bokuto, and Tsukishima gave him a polite nod. It was good to see that the two of them were still together and that Akaashi still knew how to handle him.

“Yeah.” Tsukishima nodded. “I’m good to stay for another year, I just need to come back home at the end of every semester and have to keep my grades up, but other than that I’m fine.”

“My Tsukki’s such a nerd.” Kuroo chimed in, kissing him on the cheek and Tsukishima forced himself to smile, it was hard to be in a serious mood when Kuroo was being so mushy like this. “But we’re going to be living together soon, isn’t that exciting?”

They discussed many options before Tsukishima came back here, most of them about what they should keep the same and what they should do different. They discussed the possibility of Tsukishima living at the dorms, but truth be told, once you’re no longer a first year it’s not required anymore. If someone just so happened to have some friends that they wanted to room with while studying abroad, they were allowed to, and that was the case here.

A lot was going to change for the two of them, Tsukishima had never seen the inside of Kuroo’s apartment before, all he knew was that it was close to the theatre. Tsukishima had never even lived with another person outside of Yamaguchi before, sleeping habits from Kuroo wasn’t enough to make him dislike him, and this would just be another one of those new life experiences Tsukishima expected to have while being over here. Plus, it would save him money, so there was that,

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it, Kuroo.” A sincere comment escaped him, and Tsukishima was starting to become alarmed at how affectionate he was right now.

“Does that mean you’re going to still be working at the theatre?” Bokuto asked, an almost innocent tone in his voice, and Tsukishima wondered how he could still be so out of the loop on such questions.

“I told you he was, remember, Bokuto?”

That was another one of the things that they discussed, what to do about Tsukishima’s career, he still had no idea what he wanted to do after college, but he still had a whole year to figure that out. What mattered most was making money so he could help Kuroo with rent, as well as other things. And after talking with both Akaashi and Suga, they determined that it would be a good idea to have Tsukishima continue working with them. It wasn’t much, but it was a start, and it also meant he got to spend more time with Kuroo. though, he still didn’t like the idea of giving Suga another chance to put him in another play, but he would have to take that chance.

“Oh yeah, sorry, I just forgot.” Bokuto scratched the back of his head, an embarrassed and apologetic look on his face as he abruptly decided to change the subject. “Anyway, what are you going to do now, Tsukki? You’re gonna be in New York for another year, we should celebrate. Or do you and Kuroo have _something else_ planned?” His eyes narrowed, humming and smirking as he did so. It was obvious what he was implying, but Tsukishima couldn’t help but scowl in the process.

“You bet we do, don’t we, Tsukki?” Kuroo looped his arm around Tsukishima’s shoulder, pulling him close as he could feel his body lean in to his. “We actually have plans.”

“Aw, bummer.” Bokuto pouted, slapping his hand against the side of his leg, it made a loud slapping sound as he did so, with a look of disappointment on his face. “Well, Tsukki’s probably tired, but I was looking forward to going on a double date.”

“Heh. Later then.” Kuroo smiled and Tsukishima could feel himself subconsciously pulling him towards the direction of the baggage claim. His eyes were starting to grow hazy and tired as he rubbed them with his free hand. Though, all in all, Tsukishima could still say he was happy, he was back with Kuroo, chatting it up with Bokuto and Akaashi, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, but he got to stay with them, and it made him all the more happy because of it.

The two of them waved towards Bokuto and Akaashi, and Kuroo let go of his arm, casually letting his arm fall to his side. They didn’t interlock their fingers together, but they walked side by side, letting their hands casually touch each other. He could feel his skin prick up as his soft skin rubbed up against his, getting the faintest smile out of him.

Tsukishima wasn’t really the type of person who was into showing any kind of affection he public, he hated having the attention on him, and he knew that Kuroo knew that. He was always so considerate of him, from everything to him worrying about his food allergy and making sure he ate, to wanting him to be comfortable. He didn’t do anything that Tsukishima didn’t want, and after everything they had been through, Tsukishima could now say that he was thankful that he was standing by him.

He didn’t know what he was going to do after this year, but he was happy to be spending more time with Kuroo.

“There it is.” Tsukishima called out as he saw his bag spin around the terminal, it was bright green, which somehow made it stick out even more, it had a little dinosaur tag on the side of it.

Kuroo reached and grabbed it, placing it down by his side as him and Tsukishima made his way through the mess of people, he had a smile on his face as Tsukishima carried the rest of his bags.

“So, what do you want to do first?” Kuroo asked as he vaguely looked over in his direction. “We can go to the theatre, I think Suga has a surprise planned for you or something, or we could just go home and take a nap, I bet you’re tired, aren’t you-“

Tsukishima didn’t know what came over him, but in the heat of the moment he lunged forward and placed his lips on Kuroo’s. Maybe it was just the mood that surrounded them, no one else seemed to be around and the way Kuroo was looking at him was almost irresistible.

It was just a kiss, just a small peck on the lips, but it was a sign of endearment, of Tsukishima saying that he trusted and loved Kuroo. normally he would never make such a bold move like this, but as he was finding out, a lot of things had changed about him over the course of the past year.

“Tsukki-“ Kuroo placed his free hand over top of his face, he looked surprised but not disappointed. His personality may not have matched his outward appearance, but he was still provoking when he wanted to be. “You’ve changed a lot, you know? I didn’t think there would come a day when you would willingly kiss me.” He smirked, winking at him with a look of contentment on his face.

“It was just a kiss.” Tsukishima smirked back at him, though the look on his face was telling Kuroo it was a lot more than just that. “Come on, let’s go back to your place, I’m getting sleepy.”

“‘Kay.” Kuroo hummed from beside him as they walked to the exit, he could see an almost scheming look on him out of the corner of his eye. “You know, you’ve become really theatrical, you know that?”

Tsukishima grinned, bringing his attention over to him. He could have retorted, he could have said or done just about anything or nothing, but he didn’t. He just smiled, because for the first time in the past year, Tsukishima had everything that he wanted.

“And so are you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're finally at the end of this chapter, and oh boy, I have so many thoughts right now. This story and this chapter specifically was a bit trying to write, I always struggle with epilogues and I hope I was able to do this chapter justice.
> 
> I want to start off by saying thank you to everyone who read this and commented on it, I knew when I came up with the idea for this story it was a little out there and a bit impulsive of a write, and there was a point in the middle of the story where I thought about just abandoning it, so if it wasn't for the ones who kept commenting on this weekly, I may have done just that. This story was also the first one I posted where I got any sort of negative comment about my writing on, so I think that may have contributed to the slumps I fell into while writing this. But anyway, I don't want to harp on that, so thank you guys again for your support on this story.
> 
> I contemplated just leaving this story off at chapter 9, but decided it would be a good idea to at least add a little bit to show Tsukki coming back to New York to stay with Kuroo for another year. This chapter probably isn't the best and as I re-read through this story I think there's a lot that I would have liked to do differently, but I still hope it was a fun little read that brought some enjoyment to you.
> 
> As far as what I'm doing next, I've got my Kurotsuki dance AU that I'll still be working on, and there may a few more one-shots on the way. Around the time I came up with the idea for this story, I was going back and forth between deciding on this theatre AU or an office AU with a love triangle between Kuroo, Tsukki, and another character. (Who may or may not have some affiliation with snakes). So that may also be on the way sometime soon. I have a lot of ideas and though some of them might not be as good as others, I'm definitely not going to stop writing any time soon. :)
> 
> I also post other things I've written on my tumblr (tettsuroo) so feel free to come and pester me on there if you want. :)
> 
> Okay, I'm going to shut up now because this is getting really long, but thank you guys so much for your support on this. <3


End file.
